Requital en Passant
by Megan Martian
Summary: When an old enemy escapes, Megamind and Metro Man must call a Time Out to stop the threat that holds their city in perpetual winter! When Megamind is blamed for murder he seeks the help of his best friend, a nosey reporter, and a wise old man as they collect the answers to the mystery hanging over their heads, "Who Killed Freisa Burne?" A.U. inspired by Eleathyra's "FROZEN" series
1. Prologue

**A/N: *slinks in* Ollo! Sorry I havn't been updating as much as I should! Been busy with the job and all that. (I'm a bakery clerk! Woohoo!) Anyway, about two months ago Eleathyra posted a contest on DA for her Frozen series of artwork (you can find it here: gallery/38781147 ) and although I didn't win I wanted to post it anyway. HungerforRighteouness won and you can find her fic on here! Congrats Hunger! :D**

**Anywho, the muse deemed it necessary to write this so here's the prologue with more chapters to come as I finish editing them. I hope you enjoy it. :)**

**All thanks goes to my Beta Annie for being the best friend anybody can ask for in their time of editorial needs! Alpha_Centari and Vast Difference for reading and of course, all thanks to Elathyra for the plot bunny! :D**

* * *

Prologue

_Twenty-four years prior to the events that began with the Cold Wars_

* * *

Megamind's love for games began when he was just eight years old. To this day, although, perhaps not until recently, the memory held very little significance other than it being one of the _happier_ memories of his childhood; this day happened to be during the summer before his infamous start in "shool" the events of which leading him down the dark road to evil. And as this was four years before to his debut into villainy, it was during this time that (around the prison at least) he had simply been known as "Kidd."

These were the days when the then boy genius kept to himself within his cell performing all manner of tasks a boy of his age and intelligence would practice in; reading, writing, scienceing, inventing, studying for his fourth masters (library science then onward to - law!)

You know, nothing special.

But on this particular rainy day, he sat in a simple wooden chair with the window to his left; the gray light shined down on the well worn chessboard that stood between him and his caretaker, Mac N. Brie, warden for the prison of the criminally gifted.

Sitting in a nearby chair, his best friend Minion, tiny even in his coffee tin robotic suit, learned to knit underneath a tall lamp. Every so often, Kidd would hear the fish contently muttering instructions to himself, "…and pearl and then…" but neither paid the other occupant no mind.

Thunder rolled outside followed by the smell of rain and a damp chill filled the office. In the corner, the old FM radio tuned to the rock station belted out a Scorpions song.

With the then black haired Warden Mac sitting opposite of him, grizzled chin resting in his upturned hand, he had to suppress an impatient sigh, "Well, you gonna make a move or what?"

"I'm thinking, I'm _thinking!_" the blue alien boy replied irritably. Brie had to chuckle as he watched him chew on the corner of his small mouth; dark brows creased in thought, green eyes darting to each piece on the board.

"_Any_ day now." He made a show of checking the clock on the far wall. "I'm not getting any younger."

"Warden, you of _all_ people know you can't rush _perfection_…" the Kidd murmured absently, his tiny blue hand reaching for his bishop, hesitated, then landed on the rook.

The caretaker had to roll his eyes at that. Any lesser person would be terrified of the otherworldly duo, but not him. After eight years, Warden knew they were absolutely harmless… provided that anyone but him didn't try to forcefully come between them.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Kidd smirked and with a grand flourish, he took his black rook and moved it three squares forward, to land on the white square next to Brie's white king. "Prepare to lose, _old man_, you're in _check!_"

Trying to suppress a smile, "Oh no. What am I to do? Oh wait." the older man then took his white bishop that he had kept safely stashed away just for this occasion, and dragged it sideways to capture Kidd's black king. "Checkmate."

"What?!" The boy crawled onto his knees on the chair and stared down at the board, "No _way_! I call foul! Min-_ion_!"

The alien fish, not looking up from his hobby continued to knit. "He won fair an' square sir."

"You're not even watching! You were knitting the whole time!"

Warden looked towards the littlest occupant who bubbled with glee, "Hey, fish, knit him a nice dress while you're at it."

Kidd dropped his head on the table with a groan at the jibe made worse when Minion started giggling, "Oooh, boss you need some balm for that burn!"

"You guys suck." The blue boy pouted. His arms were folded on his chest and he fixed his caretaker a disapproving look.

A sneaky gleam sparkled in the fish's large brown eyes, "Not as much as you suck at chess."

"I demand a rematch!"

Warden let out a laugh at that. (The teasing was all in good fun, the boys were more like brothers and he felt a fatherly bond with the two which he suspected was mutual. The two would often engage in brotherly poking and, on the rarest occasions, may be given to fights which resulted in separate cells as a punishment.)

Trying to keep his chuckles to a minimum, Warden gesticulated across the board, "You left your king wide open – come on, Kidd, you know better..."

"That's not _fair_! You cheated, I _know_ you did!"

"Now why would I cheat?"

The boy's look of disbelief showed plainly on his face even as he jabbed a challenging finger at his guardian's impassive face, "Best two out of three!"

* * *

Rematch twenty-four came and went with a groan from his blue boss. Of course, never having a mind for strategy, Minion given up paying attention after round twelve really. Even though his young boss begged him to play, the fish just never had a mind for games of strategy. He instead he devoted himself to homely pastimes such as sewing, knitting, cooking; he even ran the prison's garden when it was season! "Aw, come on sir, you lose every single time."

His blue boss fixed him a determined look, "There's a benefit to losing –"

His friend rolled his eyes, "-you get to learn from your mistakes, yeah, yeah…"

"And besides Minion, I am a boy genius. Every time I let Ward'n win, I'm learning every single one of his little tricks and schemes!"

The one in question silently rolled his eyes at that. _Yeah. I use "tricks and schemes."_ And yet, he found himself wondering just how, after everything Kidd had ever accomplish in his young life… why couldn't he win a simple game of chess? "Alright genius, set up the board."

* * *

It had to be round forty-two for the day, and now, young Kidd rested his blue chin on his folded hands as he micro-analyzed the board from one perspective to the next. Every so often, he would sit on his knees and gaze down at the board only to climb down and look at it from Mac's perspective. Twice he asked the man to hold him over the board to see it from a bird's eye view.

Then, (after what felt like another hour), drawing in a cautious breath, the boy lifted his black knight and nearly set it down in its new white square when Warden asked,

"You _sure_ you want to do that?"

The young Megamind looked up worriedly before narrowing his eyes in suspicion, "Hey… how do I know you're not tryin' to trick me? If I make this move, then your king's mine!" then an almost crazed expression filled the boy's features, "And then _I'll_ win! I'll _finally_ win!"

Right after that he left his knight where he wanted with a jubilant "Hah!" he sat back, once again with his thin arms folded proudly in front of him.

Unfortunately his triumph didn't last as Brie simply moved his king back one space and took out Kidd's knight in one fell swoop, which also happened to take it out of the way of Kidd's black Queen.

The man grinned, "We should make this interesting – how about every time you lose you have to do a week's worth of chores?"

The boy pouted for a brief moment and stared pitifully at the older man, "You can't do this to me! I'm just a tiny little orphan… why not let me win for once? Just this _once_?"

Kidd then made sure to flutter his lashes and pucker his lower lip in a way that made all the female prison officers and guards gush and croon over him. "Pretty please with cherries on top?"

The man smirked as he resettled their pieces on the board in the starting positions. "But... _I_ thought 'there was a benefit to losing…'"

"But it's _not _– I mean – there _is_!" the boy reiterated drastically.

When Brie moved his white pawn up one square he remarked, "Please enlighten me."

"Be…cause... I'm… losing on _purpose_!" Changing his tactic the boy sat straighter and tried to look dignified. "Yeah, that's it – I don't want you to feel too _humiliated_ by your defeat." With that he moved his own black pawn forward two squares.

Not falling for it, Warden made a mock bow. "Oh, thank you. Really. You are too kind to lowly ol' me."

Several minutes passed of silent reflection and the boy settled back down quietly. "You think I'm getting any better at this?"

Warden chuckled lightly, reached forward and patted boy appreciatively on the head, (a move similar to ruffling any other child's hair), "Kidd, you're alright in my book." Thia by itself probably would not answer any other question, but both Kidd and Minion knew the weight it carried from this one man.

The boy giggled and playfully shoved his hand off before looking up timidly, "You think I'll be as good as you one day?"

With a look of pure honesty, "Kidd, I believe one day you'll be great."

The boy made a move, withdrawing inward. "S'funny. My real dad said I was destined for something, but I dunno what that was."

Warden kept silent, not sure how to respond to that.

As the rain and thunder persisted to pour down outside – they continued their game.

* * *

**No, I haven't given up on Better half, It's just taken a back seat until I get dumb stuff in my life settled down. It's always there, don't worry. :)**

**Meanwhile, entertain yourself with this. :P**

**P.S. I got a tumblr now! fanfic doesn't want me to post it so if you want to follow, send me a pm and I'll link it to you!**


	2. The Tomb of The White King

Chapter 1

Tomb of The White King

_Present day: fifteen years after the Cold Wars_

* * *

_"… In the bayou, I found the cabin of Mad Black Hettie…"_

In the middle of Lake Huron, there sits an abandoned oil rig that had been turned into an asylum for the criminally insane. Consequentially, on this particular night in June, a storm battered the high-level security facility. But this didn't stop one inmate in particular from droning out a melody of his own devise... _"...I stomped and stumbled 'til I peeked in those filthy windows o'hers..."_

_"Psycho!"_ one inmate hissed to silence his neighbor. "Go the fuck to bed, man!"

"… she was castin' a spell, rasin' hell, and inna curse I fell into those waters…" he ignored the cell near him and continued to drawl on after a coughing spasm forced him to spit out a few pieces of gravel. Once it passed and he regained his breath he belted out a little louder. "But when I rose again I was _black_ as _sin_ from the waters of Hettie's ba_you_…"

"Psycho – _shut up_!"

"Hn…" The member of the notorious Doom Syndicate, Psycho Delic, one of the many of the incarcerated let loose a gravelly sigh as another wave of thunder rolled over the dilapidated prison. Idly, he wondered just what was holding the old rig together and what was preventing it from crashing into the great lake and drowning them all. All except perhaps him, having the fortune of being dead already.

Still, an eternity at the bottom of a lake, trapped within a cell with who knows how many fucktons of rusting metal surrounding him as whatever marine life feasted upon his regenerating flesh honestly held little appeal to him.

Then the lights flickered and he was struck by the sudden thought of what just might happen if the power were to go out – would the prison doors be released? No. Well, obviously the backup generators would kick in, allowing power to fuel the facility until the storm finally passed… But then he remembered that due to expenditures, that that tubby Mayor of Metro City had decided that "due to budget cuts, such back up measures had to be stripped away."

with a roll of his black and red eyes, he honestly wondered when the city will actually "forget" to feed them.

And then there were the subterranean prisoners, what about them? _Hn…_ Those were under strict attention but there was one prisoner in particular who he knew for certain that had been forgotten… _Oh-ho now! This could get mighty interestin'!_

Shambling from his squeaky spinged mattress, he coughed up a bit of dust and more gravel before leaning against the cool bars of his cell. Despite the rain, it was still hot and humid in the prison.

Checking to make sure that his other "roommates" were sufficiently asleep he hissed, "_Psst_, hey, Hot flash – ya awake?"

Lightning flashed through the high dirty windows followed by another roar of thunder before he heard an annoyed grunt and saw the brief flicker of a light pink glow flickered in the cell twenty-feet across from him. "What _else_ would I be doing at ten at night?"

Coughing again, Psycho leaned on the bars and drawled out, "Pretty wicked storm, eh?"

This time the woman who seemed to be in a permanent state of "the change" sat up on her own mattress, her hot pink hair waving around like fire, "Honeybun, I think you got a touch of cabin fever if all you wanna do is talk about the weather."

Unfazed by her attitude, the reanimated man coughed out a dust cloud and spat out a pebble before continuing, "I'm just wonderin' what you thinks gunna happen once the power goes out."

The woman shrugged and yawned, "Buggah-boo, it can't be more than a hundered degrees in here. I'm _hot_, I'm _sweaty_, I'm _tired_ and if you don't want me lighting your mummified ass on fire, you'd best get to bed."

Chuckling darkly at her threat, the dead man looked down the gray mile and examined the simple gray door that simply read, "Basement." "The reason I'm askin' is, if the power goes out, what do you thinks gunna happen when _you know who_ gets out of the basement?"

This time, the squat older woman mirrored his posture on her own cell bars and followed his hollowed eyed gaze with keen interest, "Mmm, now _there's_ a thought. But I don't know, wouldn't he be dead by now?"

Psycho Delic gave a hoot of laughter which woke the tenant next to Hot Flash's cell. "Shouldn't I be?"

From their conversation, rustling noises could be heard of the other inmates waking from their sleep; most notably, to Psycho's and Flash's great annoyance, Lady Dopplar.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" she snarled as she stormed to her own bars and glared at the two, "_Some _of us are _trying_ to get our beauty sleep over here!" her thin face was plastered with an overnight clay-masque and her long silver hair was braided and pinned up neatly around her head.

Psycho Delic let out a bark of laughter before sticking out his shriveled tongue tauntingly, "Gunna take a lot more than sleep to fix your looks toots."

Lady Dopplar seized her bars in rage and nearly shrieked, "Go rot in a ditch you-you _corpse_!"

"Ouch, that hurt." he sneered. "Didja break somethin' tryin' ta come up with that?"

"Will you two just shut the hell up!" Hotflash snapped. Once they settled down, she fixed her crusty comrade a look, "You really think he's still alive? I was under the impression that the guards kinda... ya know... forgot about him."

Psycho and Dopplar exchanged rude facial expression with complimentary hand gestures before nodding, "They did, but I heard that our old friend Megamind rigged him up a _nice _little cryogenic cell to keep him asleep... somethin' like that has to use a lot of power..."

"And if the power here goes out –…"

"Then _somebody's_ gunna wake up on the _wrong_ side of the bed." He coughed up some more gravel as he laughed. "All their plans undone by a power outage! How _hilarious_ is that?!"

"Ugh, what are you old coots _cackling_ about?" Dopplar asked, sleepy but curious.

Hot Flash stuck her fist through the bars and gave it a threatening shake, "Old coots? Girl you better _watch yo' mouth!_"

"If ya can't keep up with the conversation then don't bother joinin' in, little girly." Psycho sneered at the newest villain.

"_Excuse_ me?!"

"Ya heard me _air-head_."

With a sound of aggravation, Dopplar reached as far as she could through her bars and snapped her fingers in Psycho's direction, "Why don't you just _cool your jets_?"

A tiny storm cloud, about the size of a beach ball, appeared above Psycho's head and rain started to fall, "Whoa! Hey! Why ya little-!"

Lady Dopplar let loose a loud ring of laughter and floated in the air of her cell while holding her sides. "You were looking a little dried out - I hope that helps!"

Muttering incoherently, the dead man quickly yanked his mattress from its frame and pulled it over his head to shelter himself, all the while cursing the smirking girl across the mile.

"Anyway, we were talking about the villain responsible for founding the Doom Syndicate." Hot Flash explained irritably.

"Huh?" the girl next door to her now sounded curious and landed gracefully back on her feet, "You mean he's _here?_" in her distraction it stopped raining in cell in Psycho Delic's cell.

"Or was." Her neighbor corrected.

"_Is._" Psycho added, "Hey, Flash, mind dryin' me off?"

The old woman absentmindedly shot hot pink flames across the way and Psycho Delic let out a "Ye-OW! Hot! Too hot!"

"So you're saying he's is still alive, Psycho?"

Gently steaming, the undead man threw off the mattress, "Wow, nothing gets past you,_ hn_?"

Dopplar growled and a small bolt of lightning shocked the offender across the way who released another yelp. "Gah- that almost jumpstarted my heart!"

"Do you even _have_ a heart?" The girl queried.

Before he could respond with a suggestion on just where she should go, Hot Flash continued with a note of awe, "He was the greatest of them all – he had the _whole_ city of Metro on a plate, but then our dear boo _Megamind_ finally felt that he was too _cool for school_ and had actually_ teamed up_ with Metro Dude to defeat him! The traitor…"

"'Metro Dude'... heh." Psycho laughed to himself, "Can't believe he used call himself that. Remember the Cold Wars, Flash?"

"Cold Wars?" Dopplar asked him.

Psycho rolled his eyes, "Didn't you read the Doom Syndicate's history book?"

Dopplar looked a might sheepish and shifted on his feet, "I fell asleep."

Hot Flash wagged a finger in front of her cell, "Girl, if you don't start takin' your education seriously, you'll end up just like Mosquito Man."

The girl gasped in horror.

With a groan Psycho ran a hand down his weathered face, "Ugh. The Cold Wars were a series of battles that took place within six months between Megamind, Metro Man an' the boss - the final of which ended with Megamind traitorously capturin' him in a cryogenic freezer of _all_ things."

Hot Flash released a sigh, "Those were the days... Chaos... destruction... You can't get villainy like that anymore."

"Now all we're left with is Dopplar here."

"Hey!" The girl snapped, "I do my fair share of evil doing! Why, just last week I made it rain on someone's outdoor wedding!"

"Whoa. Excusez-moi." Delic held up his hands in surrender, "I didn't realize I was dealin' with a badass over here."

Before she could counter him, thunder cracked again outside the asylum and after that, the power finally went out. The three convicts stood quietly, almost not breathing at all. After all who would have such a compound without a backup generator?

Hot Flash's hair was the only thing bright enough to light up her cell, "What were you saying about the power going out, Sugah?"

Slow at first, but quickly gaining, the entire prison grew into a riot and several guards began entering in from their posts to quiet the noise.

"Welp, we're about ta find out, ain't we?" Psycho drawled as the three Syndicate members turned what gazes they could towards the door at the end of the gray mile.

Several minutes past as a grey clad guard with a bight L.E.D. flashight finally came towards Flash, Dopplar and Psycho's cells.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, I want all three of you back in your cots!" then he stopped and with his light he examined Psycho's topsy-turveyed cell, "The hell happened to you?"

"_The hell happening to you, the hell happening to you!_" Psycho mocked in a sing-song voice. "Come over here boss, ole' Psycho Delic's got a yarn ta spin for ya!"

The guard grimaced before beating his light on his bars which let out a high pitched ring, "Get back to bed, before the warden finds your cell a mess. Christ, I'm not getting paid enough for this shit..."

Then with a _ka-chk! _the door at the end of the mile that to the basement opened slowly and the three baddies plus the guard turned to stare at it as if creaked open.

Psycho started cackling. "Ee-hee-hee-hee!"

"Who's there?" The guard called out as a white mist pooled out from the dark doorway.

"Ya really should _chill out_, bossman, hee-hee-hee!" Delic grinned sadistically and tried to squeeze his face through the bars.

When there was no answer, the guard pulled out his baton and shined his light into the doorway as he walked towards it, "Alright, I'm going to count to five and if you don't come out here, I'm going in there and there's going to be hell to pay! One… two..."

Psycho, Flash and Dopplar all watched with bated breath as the guard finished his countdown.

Then he finished his stride and walked into the darkness within the doorway. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

They heard a moment's of silence before what sounded like a struggle reached their ears. "What th—no! NO- _Hrrgh!_"

Then, very slowly, there came the soft sounds of bare feet on steel flooring. The white mist brought an eerie chill, even as the wind outside howled.

Then, in the light from the lightning outside, a tall, gaunt, elderly man in a tattered Armani suit appeared in the door frame and he slowly made his way down the gray mile.

"That's _him_?" Dopplar whispered to the concrete wall between her and Flash. She was quickly shushed and unanswered. "How _dare_ you shush me!"

"Shad up, girl!"

As the man made his weary way towards the three Syndicate members, rubbing his eyes and looking every bit as if he just woke up from a deep sleep, Psycho Delic howled with laughter,

"Whoooooo-_wee_! Told ya so!" he smirked in Flash's direction.

"We'll I'll be damned… Is that you, sir?" The woman asked eyes wide.

"Are you kidding me? This_ old man_ is the greatest villain that ever lived?!" Dopplar sounded disbelieving but was quickly shushed by her neighbor.

"Girl, you better _check_ yo'self before you _wreck_ yo'self!"

The man looked to be in his sixties as he squinted his pale silver eyes to focus on the pink flaming haired villainess and looked confused. "Oh… much apologies my dear… It appears I've been in something of a stasis and I'm not quite up to speed…" Then he rubbed his eyes and began to lightly pat his suit, "And I misplaced my glasses, it seems..."

"Hey - remember me, boss? It's ya ole' pal, Psycho."

The old man blinked and finally recognition dawned on him, "Ah, yes. Psycho Delic, how delightful. And yes, remember you Hot Flash… and I apologize, I cannot recall as to whom you are my dear?" He looked in the direction of Dopplar's cell who pouted.

The youngest member gave the villain a through look over before leaning her chin on her cell bars, "Lady Dopplar at your service, sir. I joined the Doom Syndicate a couple of years ago."

"Show some respect girl!" Hotflash shook her fist through her bars and in front of Dopplar's.

"Ah." He replied distantly eyes scanning the prison hold as curious eyes watched him from wall to wall. "I am unfamiliar with this establishment, where exactly are we?"

"Lake Huron oil rig slash prison sir." Psycho sounded positively ecstatic.

"Uh… how do you feel, Sugah?" Flash queried the man's expression.

It took him a long time to answer. If the lighting were better, they would see that his pale silver eyes were closed and the tip of his tongue poked out from between his teeth, "I dreamt of a palace of Ice and Glass…"

"Um… right. So, now that you're free, how about helping us-?"

"How long have I been here?" he interrupted.

"A-about fifteen years, sir. Maybe if ya could let us out…? There's a control booth about four floors up that could-"

"Fifteen?" The old man looked down at his old tattered Armani suit. "Fifteen years of my life gone, wasted. Lost… And the Syndicate?"

"Well… you're looking at what's left of the Doom Syndicate."

"What's… left?"

"Well… What with Megamind kinda goin' AWOL, everyone just started to… you know, arch on their own time."

The man's eyes suddenly became intense and he breathed out a cloud of air, "And Megamind... does he still live?"

"And still a member of Doom, yeah."

"What?" he turned and stared down at the menopausal woman, "Protocol dictates that when one member is brought down but a fellow villain, then the _entire_ organization must hunt down and defeat the awolling villain!"

"Well, him and Metro Man have kind of a deal going…" Dopplar added, "They battle over the city as usual, but if anyone else tries to hone in on it, they join forces and kick us out. Nobody's allowed to hang out in their little club."

In frustration, the man raised a fist and slammed it into one of the bars – freezing it and the surrounding iron in a slab of ice, the other three instantly fell silent and backed up several paces. Old and frail though he may be, he still looked fierce. "Damn it, we're not _Mischief-maker's Incorporated_ for Evil's sake! Where is Freisa? I hope that at least _one_ of us is still doing her job…"

"Well…" Psycho looked from Flash who shrugged and back to the old man, "Here's the thing… After your unfortunate incarceration, Freisa… How do I put this delicately...? She _kinda_ caught a bad case of dead."

The man went rigid in disbelief, "… What?"

Seeing that he was silent with shock, Hot Flash jumped in, "Well, we're not sure but we think she wound up on the wrong side of Megamind and… well…" she trailed off with a demonstrative finger crossing her wrinkled throat.

"I… see."

The man leaned on a rusty bar with his bare hands, head down, loose white hair covering his face. Hot Flash began backpacing as the entire bar began to turn white and frost over, the metal making the minute _tnk!_ Sound as it froze over.

"Um, boo-bear? Come on, Sugah, calm down…"

"Megamind… _betrayed_ us… and…" his fluid voice sounded flat – almost inaudible.

Psycho Delic felt the heat in the prison drop several degrees as a dark look appeared on the elderly man's pock-marked face. "He and Metro Man both… locked me away from the world. My… _Freisa_ is… _gone_."

"If-if ya want, we could help ya out…" Psycho Delic offered hopefully. "If ya'd be as kind as ta, uh, you know, bust us out."

The temperature just continued to drop and pretty soon, the other residents of the prison began to shiver uncontrollably.

Finally, the old man straightened back up and ran a hand through his untidy white hair frowning. "No. No, I don't believe that will be at all necessary."

Psycho Delic frowned at that and started to shrink away as his elder continued, "You see, I've built the Doom Syndicate for one purpose and one purpose only, to continue the tradition of vile and corruption. In my absence my most _trusted_ member is dead, my society is barely functioning because you three _buffoons_ are trapped in this _rusted out refinery_!"

The three flinched and cowered away from his cold fury. "And yet you _dare_ offer your 'invaluable help' to me?"

This time, the bars on all of the cells were turning white with frost but still he continued on unhindered. "The blood of my protégé has been shed and a vendetta has begun and the method of it's completion must be completed surgically. So, no, I am in no need of your help."

Pulling his suit straight, the free convict casually walked out of the now frozen solid prison; each one of its residents were now a solid statue of ice and as he made his way down the halls towards the exit, frost climbed its way all over the walls, ceilings, floors, flowering on glass and creating icicles from leaks.

Once he was outside the oil rig that was quickly covering in ice, the rain turned to sleet as the raging lake below him began to freeze over.

With a steely expression, the man snarled dangerously, "Prepare yourselves Metro Man and Megamind: Nitros has returned."


	3. City of Iron and Steel

Chapter 2

City of Iron and Steel

* * *

After a long walk to blow off some steam, Nitros arrived on the shores of Metro feeling a bit more relieved as he was now able to keep better control of his powerful emotions. But what he needed now was to rest. who knew that fifteen years of sleeping would make one so tired? He also needed food, shelter, and most importantly of all, a brand new suit.

As the rocky shore turned into sidewalks and asphalt he wondered if his face was still the one of nightmares, if the helpless denizens of Metro still feared his return as they rightly should. In his stunning career in villainy, his goal that stood beneath his one true purpose was to make sure that all would remember his name.

And if they did not?

Then it was time for a sharp reminder.

The street clock on the nearest corner read that just after 2:00 in the morning when he finally entered the low-income area of Metro; his bare feet not quite touching the disgusting littered street - he made sure to create a thin layer of ice to protect his soles from touching the filth. "... and the feet of angels shall never grace the earth..." He hummed quietly to himself.

All was quiet in the streets with the occasional thump of a bass from a passing car or the sounds of a feud between lodgers across from himbut he paid them no mind. Soon, the city will fall under his control as it should be. And judging by the warmth, he knew it to be summer. Stopping by a dingy looking newspaper box he read the prior date and concluded that it was Saturday, June 1st.

"Summer then." Then Nitros smiled nastily, "Let's hope they're prepared for an early winter."

As he continued walking, he came across a large white news van, since without his spectacles it appeared fuzzy from a distance, (as he was nearsighted) he walked closer until he could read the side as KMCP Channel 8 News. Idly he walked around it, and found a short, pudgy little man with wiry red hair singing some off-key pop song,

"Never gunna _give you up_, never gunna _let you dowwwn!_" He turned around with an unplugged mic in hand, eyes squeezed shut, hips a-thrusting and belting out notes that should not suit him, "Never gunna _run around_ and _hurt you_, _Roxie!_"

Nitros visibly winced with every high note and spoke loud enough to break the little man from his number, "Well I'm happy to know that my hearing isn't impaired."

"Ah! Ah!" The man dropped the equipment he'd be holding which fell to the asphalt with a loud crunch. "Awwww, _maaaan!_ Look what you made me do!" he whined before shooting Nitros a scathing look.

The escaped convict cocked his head curiously and put his hands behind his back, "Do you not recognize me, young man?"

The man spared a glance at him and shrugged lazily, "No offense, but I don't hang at the retirement home's bingo parlor."

He pulled back, offended by this disdainfully rude young man. Was his name no longer whispered by protective mothers to frightened their babes into behaving? Wasn't Freisa able to cause so much psychological damage that the very utterance of his name brought chills to the bone? So many questions... "Your manner is atrocious and I do not partake of any parlor named _bingo_, and who might you be, my young miscreant?"

"Hal." He grunted, not understanding the meaning of the word 'miscreant' but judging by this old codger, he felt annoyed by it. Rolling his eyes at the gentleman, he began picking up the pieces of his filming equipment.

He quirked a white eyebrow and leaned back in, menacingly, "I am more infamously known as Nitros."

Hal made an awkward laugh and said, "Yeah, and I'm really _Metro Man_. Now if you don't mind-"

Feeling his anger rise at the mention of the hero, Nitros placed a bare hand upon Hal's shoulder and pulled him to face him. "Are you really? Because if you _were_, I'd have to make you pay for what you've _stolen_ from me."

Hal's shoulder instantly went numb, and we he rolled his fat head to look at it, he could see frost covering his sleeve. "Uh… uh…"

Now that he had his complete attention, Nitros released Hal's arm and straightened easily, his hands returning behind his back, "Do you doubt me _now_, boy?"

Pale, Hal shook his head, "N-no, sir."

"Good. Now I am in need of sufficient lodging and sustenance. You _will_ provide these. And until I feel ready to remind the city of the glory days, you will assist me in procuring a new suit and help in getting me caught up on the last fifteen years, practically the event surrounding the death of my protege."

* * *

Standing atop the roof of a banking establishment, Minion adjusted his binoculars with his tongue poking out from between his teeth, "Ok… any second now…"

"Testing for wind resistance…" His best friend calculated behind him. Leaning his giant blue head this way and that way to stretch out his neck muscles, he absently wiped the sweat from his brow. "Loosen the shoulders, bend the knees…"

Then the fish suddenly said, "Now!"

Megamind twisted at the hips, raising the driver the opposite way. Preparing to make a mighty swing, a voice of sarcasm intruded on his concentration:

"If only there was a way for your plans to hit such a high note…"

Shaking his head to rid himself of the interruption, he swung the _Putt Putt Pow!_ Club, hitting the tiny dark blue golf ball making it soar through the air.

Minion cupped his mechanical hands to his dome and shouted, _"FOUR!"_

Seeing that his calculations were disrupted, Megamind turned stiffly to face the troublesome woman.

"Oh don't worry about that Miss Ritchie." Casually twirling his invention, he sneered, "If I were you and you were I and Minion was that pi-geon roosting over there, I would more concerned about getting dunked."

Roxanne Ritchie, news channel 8, was currently dangling by her wrists; not dangerously, she had noted as there were two Brain Bots holding her by said wrists and two more supporting her weight under her heels. She had to admit she only felt a mild discomfort via the day's heat but thankfully there was yet _another_ cyborg who held a large umbrella over her for shade and one more with a plate some of Minion's famous brewed lemonade sitting on it with a crazy straw.

With not much to really complain about, she made sure to loudly voice her irritation that there was a vat of slightly warmer than room temperature honey sitting 'threateningly' underneath her. Not too far behind her were several large bags that were labeled 'Feathers and Down.'

"Oh my," she falsely lamented, "I am so scared. Not honey of _all_ things." She guessed that the tub was only waist deep meaning that she would only be covered half way.

With a smirk the Master of Metro's evil pranced back towards Minion, "How long till detonation?"

"Just a few seconds sir!"

"Splendid!" Running to the roof's edge, Megamind shielded his eyes from the sun and watched his little golf ball soar to its intended target: A flying Metro Man.

_"Putt… putt… putt…"_ went the dimpled ball's tracking beacon.

* * *

Hearing this, the brawny alien smirked even as he heard Minion's warning and made a point to weave between buildings, hearing the golf ball's tiny chant tailing behind him.

"Bowg! Bowg! Bowg!" The brain bots were closing in front of him, snapping their jaws viciously.

"_Putt… putt… putt…_" came the golf ball behind him.

With a grin, he veered downward and laughed boyishly when there came a _"POW!"_ as the ball collided on one of the little cyborgs in a puff of blue smoke.

* * *

"_Oooooh!_" Minion winced, adjusting his binoculars for a better view of the knocked out pet falling. It landed on the sidewalk with a red X blinking on it's ocular stalk. Its compatriots stopped in their pursuit and hovered over it, one of them took a metal arm and dropped it limply on the concrete. "You hit one of our own."

Megamind squinted his eyes for a better look, "I did?"

Lowering his 'nocs, Minion stared at his boss with the most betrayed expression, "Sir, how _could_ you?"

All the blue bad boy could manage was a guilty smile, "Let's keep this between us, 'k?"

"I can't look at you." Minion turned in his tank with a huff. "I am ashamed to be your best friend."

"Don't blame me! It's _her_ fault!" Megamind sulked as he tossed his golf club away from him, Roxanne just watched the two with a smile on her face. "If you had _gagged_ her like we _planned_ –"

"And ruin her coral lipstick?!" Minion snapped in shock. "I may be _evil_ but I am _not_ heartless!"

"Thank you, Minion, you're so considerate."

Megamind raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, "What about consideration for my needs? Why can't _I_ have a victim who fears me?!"

"Face it, you're_ kind_ of predictable." Roxanne snarked. "I mean - I guess you could be consdiered evil... in a sense..."

"Only 'kind of'?" The villain huffed with his fists on his hips. "I am shocked! Why, the other day I completely disorganized the Metrocity Lie-berry! _Intentionally_!"

Minion sighed sadly, "Those poor librarians... All the Z's were in the A's... Adult erotica shelved with home repair! It was a madhouse!"

The reporter just quirked an eyebrow. "I can see now that there's a special place for you in hell."

"Had enough yet?" Metro Man called behind them just now swooping down to see what all the fuss was about.

Rolling her blue eyes, Roxanne sighed, "Yes, _please_."

Megamind and Minion whirled around to glare at the hero who was waving at them tauntingly. "You made me hit one of my pets you- you _overly-buff_ jerk!"

"And _you_ threatened the well being of my lipstick; shame on you, Megamind. Shame, shame, shame."

Groaning and running a hand across his bulbous forehead Megamind turned around to give her a pitiful look, "Miss Ritchi, for once, _please_ be a good little victim and be scared of me?"

"I would if you were actually _terrifying_… Honey and feathers sweetie? Come on, s_econd graders_ are more hard core than you are."

"She has a point sir."

Seeing the opportunity, Metro Man grinned, "Where are they at Minion?"

The fish counted his metal digits, "So far she has three on him."

"And Little Buddy?"

"Don't call me that!"

"About one so far." His best friend explained.

"Whose side are you on?!"

"Oh sir, we're just keeping score on the zingers."

Holding two fingers to his temple, Metro Man concentrated on a spare patch of roof and etched the following:

** M ****R**

** I III**

"Oh come on!" Megamind shouted. "What is this 'Pick on Megamind day'?!"

Minion chortled in good humor, "No way, that's on Tuesday."

As the two continue to bicker back and forth with Roxanne chiming in every so often, Metro Man picked something up with his super sense. In the distance, towards the southside shopping district, he heard the sounds of a crowd screaming, followed by what sounded like a happy tinkling sound following by angry crackle.

His first immediate instinct was arriving at the scene and save the day, but something about this gave him pause...

A smell of white: crisp, clean, sharp and keen... cold.

The scent reminded him of the dead of winter.

The very idea of winter brought on such an intense flood of memory that he felt momentarily frozen in midair and turned his head to stare in the direction of the cool breeze.

The three below him finally noticed his silence and Megamind looked up at him expectantly, "Uh Metro Man... I just called your girlfriend a noisy newsie... That's your cue."

He remained silent and stared intently towards the southern part fo the city.

Sensing a possible news scoop, the reporter called up, "Something's up Wayne?"

"Hey!" Megamind shouted, "Don't ignore me!" Grabbing his pail of blue golf balls, he threw one after another at the hero; when each made contact, they would make little "_POW!_" explosions of blue smoke against the hero but they made zero damage on him. "I'm not done telling you how you'll rue the day you ever uttered the name—!"

Without a word or apology Metro Man rose into the sky and soared towards the south district.

"Where's he going?" Minion queried scratching his dome in confusion.

"Hey!" Megamind shouted again and waved his arms frantically, "You can't just leave me here! Who's going to send me to jail?!"

"Got to love a guy with such high reaching goals as wanting to go to prison." The victim laughed.

Once the hero was out of sight, both he and Minion (who was holding up four fingers) looked at each other in disbelief.

Then the aquatic alien rubbed the top of his bowl in thought. "So… What do you wanna do now?"

Putting his hands on his hips, Megamind frowned, "Get some answers, that's what we're going to do! Miss Ritchi,"

The reporter arched an eyebrow in mild attention, "What."

He had to suppress a grin at that look of annoyance on her face. How can she look so irritated and so cute at the same time? "You're not just going to hang around _all day_, are you?"

* * *

When Metro Man arrived at the scene, his eyes widened considerably as he touched down on the pavement. "What in the world…?"

A sudden wave of déjà vu washed over him as he walked through the area in front of an Armani suit store where, standing outside it were maybe fifty or so ice sculptures. The only difference between these and the normal art medium was that these were actually made out of people!

He shuddered, feeling a sense of unease as he looked into the frozen features of one woman; blonde, in her 50s, she seemed to have been shopping and had turned around to face the Armani suit store when she had been frozen in a state of confusion. Others were similar; parents holding their children, a man jogging with his dog (both frozen in mid stride), a couple in the midst of an animated argument, frozen with their arms out, mouths open, eyes angry.

Then something strange occurred…

It began to snow.

First one, then two, then ten, then twenty snowflakes…

Holding out his hand, Metro Man watched as frozen molecules descended from the sky to melt in his hand. The growing familiarity made his eyes narrow and his balance falter. "But it's summer…" Then something caught his attention in the corner of his eye and when he focused he could see Hal, Roxanne's socially awkward cameraman, camera raised, standing frozen in the distance like the rest of the shoppers.

The hero rose in the air and hovered over to him and looked at the camera. Obviously he'd been filming something before he froze with a look of the dumb panic on his face; his skin was a light blue and icicles hung off his edges. Careful not to break anything off, he gently pried the camera loose and stared at it. "What in the…?"

His super sonic hearing heard it, and just as he could register it, he used his super speed to "flash" out of the way – just in time of an icicle missile that had been aimed directly at him! (It just managed to miss Hal's body.)

The asphalt crumpled beneath it when he flashed just above it, but then his vision began to blur and he held his head with a woozy shake. "Oh no, not this again..."

Like it had fifteen years prior - sickness and fatigue settled upon him fast and he fell in midair, crashing onto the hood of a car with a groan.

The voice that gave the hero shivers to this day sounded over him. "Metro Dude, how are you my dear boy?"

He opened his grey eyes to see the silhouette of a tall man in a brand new Armani suit leaning on a black umbrella. "You..."

Nitros tipped his black fedora down at him in greeting. "Indeed. It has been quite a spell, hasn't it?"

Metro Man rolled over and tried raising himself on all fours, "How did...?"

"I escape? When Megamind makes a plan, one can always trust for it to eventually _backfire;_ a bit of nasty weather and 'poof!' the power goes out. Funny how life works, eh?" He adjusted his stance making the metal tip of his umbrella scrape gratingly on the street. "I'd love to catch up Metro Dude but I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a jam-."

"It's Metro _Man_ now!"The brawny hero growled back, finally pulling himself into a fighting position but he knew well that he was basically powerless against this opponent - he remembered all too clearly what their fights had been like years prior.

The older man laughed quietly at his effort, feeling nothing akin to fear when it comes to this hero alone. With one hand in pocket he raise his umbrella and poked its tip teasingly in Wayne's muscles. "Ah, yes, how _does_ the time fly… fifteen winters have come and gone… I see you're looking a little _gray _around the edges, yourself. Tell me, how does our mutual friend _Megamind_ fare these days…? I trust he is in good health?"

Wayne's gray eyes searched all over the shopping district for the elderly yet still quite spry villain. "What are you doing here?"

Nitros did not have a classic maniacal laughter, his was quiet, cold and yet it still managed to echo throughout the district. "I do believe you know."

And then another missile went hurdling through the air and the hero could just barely move out of the way once more.

* * *

"Where'd he go?" Minion asked yet again within the last half hour. He leaned forward in the drivers seat of the invisible car and looked through the windshield as they passed another block.

Since the now visible Invisible Car was such a normal occurrence, many bystanders barely spared it a glance.

"Maybe we should go down Main again…" Megamind replied thoughtfully examining at the city's map in the passenger seat.

"I vote Lincoln Avenue." The fish brightened excitedly, "Lots of shops down there."

"Miss Ritchi, he's your boyfriend, where are his usual hang outs?"

There was an aggravated sigh behind him in the backseat, "How many times do I_ have_ to tell you? He's _not_ my boyfriend!"

Sensing yet another fight brewing, Minion continued to drive forward humming lightly to himself until he noticed that there were people running from the South Shopping district. At first this didn't immediately give cause for concern until the afternoon's light began to waver, and when he looked up, the sky above the city began to grow dark and ominous, the temperature dropping radically. "Um... guys? Hey... hey guys..."

Behind them, the kidnap victim was blathering on and on about her relationship with Metro Man, about how they just didn't see each other that way and how it's all just some misconstrued fabrication as hero and bait, blah, blah, blah...

"...and _that's_ why Wayne and I aren't a couple!" Roxanne huffed, aggravated but also relieved to finally get that off her chest. "And don't even get me started on his flannel socks!"

Megamind, having not heard a word she said simply gave a non-committal sound of agreement. "Uh-huh. So what're your plans for your five year anniversary? I need to know ahead of time so I can ruin them."

"You didn't even hear a word I said!"

"Sorry what? I was too busy thinking about my next scheme to interuppt your dinner next week."

"Um, hello? Boss you should take a look at this..."

"That's nice. So when you and he are being a couple, where does he go?" Megamind had turned in his seat and was now leaning on it and smiling down at the reporter.

Minion glanced from his boss to the reporter and back again but didn't say anything. He frowned when the closer he drove towards the South, people, (only at few, then gaining in number) were running and screaming from around that corner.

The two were already bickering up a storm when Minion finally gasped, "Look! It's _snowing_!" they stopped and both looked out the windows in surprise.

"Snowing?" due to her wrists and ankles still bound, Roxanne did her best to adjust herself to look out the window. Then her eyes widened, "No freaking way…"

"It's a Christmas miracle!" the fish squealed happily. "Let's make cookies!"

"But it's June…" Megamind muttered thoughtfully.

Minion turned around the corner into the South district and slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the light blue of a civilian frozen in mid run, "Whoa, what the?!"

The entire street was in shambles! Citizens stood frozen all over in varying degrees of normal to panic mode.

"Megamind!" then they saw something big hit the side of a parked semi and knocked it flat on its side.

The one named rolled down his window and looked out, "Metro Man?"

From the crumpled heap of the toppled semi, twin laser beams shot straight into the sky, instantly melting a straight groove into what looked like a falling chunk of ice! Roxanne stared opened-mouthed while Megamind blindly slapped his hand against the center console until he palmed the blue button labeled 'Stealth Mode.' "Back up! Back up, back up, _back up_!" he chanted quickly.

Switching the Invisible Car's gear into reverse and slamming a metal foot on the gas Minion exclaimed, "What in the world?!"

The car with its three occupants' inside zoomed backwards as they watched what looked like a small blizzard forming above the south shopping district.

The sound of cold laughter and Megamind guessed that if he had hair, it'd stand on end.

"Have you grown soft these past fifteen years, Metro Man?"

Minion turned in his bowl to face his boss, "Sir…? Is that who I _think_ it is…?"

"What the hell?" Roxanne breathed behind them.

Then the clouds dispersed to reveal a tall, gaunt, fedora topped, pock-faced man in a coal and pinstripped Armani suit, "Or has only fighting _Megamind_ just made you _lazy_?"

"You're one to talk!" Metro Man wearily shot back, rising into the air. He cracked his knuckles threateningly, "I went easy on you before, _Nitros_, but now it's time to finish this!"

The two aliens in the car gasped in surprise. "No way!"

"Nitros?" Having forgotten just who they had in the car with them the two jump and she cleared her throat. "Wait, _the_ Nitros?"

Megamind glanced at her with brows raised curiously, "Yeah, you know him?"

"I remember reading a few old stories about him." The reporter replied confidently. "But I'd _love_ to know exactly what happened from your perspective."

Without turning around, Metro Man ordered, "Megamind, I'll hold him off, you get Roxie and Minion out of here and figure out how to finish this geezer once and for all!"

The villain bristled with rage, and he crouched predator like on his snowcap, "Megamind is _here_?! Where is he?!"

Raising his hand huge cannon balls of ice formed around him and he sent them in all directions hitting random cars and buildings. Metro Man flew this way and that, punching the projectiles out of the way of frozen civilians. "Show yourself you blue coward!"

"He doesn't know we're here..." Minion whispered out the corner of his mouth, in case the villain could hear them. (He couldn't, but better safe than sorry.)

Watching how the villain was blindly looking in all directions, Roxanne leaned between the boys' seats and whispered, "He's nearsighted."

"Boss..." turning in his bowl, Minion leaned in authoritatively, "What did you do?"

Megamind held his hands up innocently, "Nothing, I swear!"

"Where is he?! Where is Megamind?!" Nitros snarled, "I will make you both pay for what you've stolen from me! I will avenge the death of _Freisa Burne_!"

"I already _told_ you! I have no _idea_ what happened to your henchgirl!" the superhero shouted back.

Minion blew an air bubble thoughtfully, "Miss Burne died? When did this happen? I would have sent some flowers and a condolence card... oh dear, Emily Post would be so ashamed of me."

"Don't look at _me_, I didn't do it." Megamind explained quickly.

But Minion narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "I don't know... I got my eyes on you Mister..."

Behind them, Roxanne kicked Minion's seat, "You guys, focus! Wayne is out there trying to shield us so we can make our escape!"

The two straightened, "Oh right! But shouldn't we... I don't know... Help him?"

Megamind chewed his lip indecisively. "But... he's... Metro Man... he's supposed to be invulnerable..."

"Tell that to Metro Bank that he was just plowed through."

The longer the trio watched, the more Metro Man fought to keep Nitros from doing anymore further damage. His movements began to slow and he seemed to be having some difficulty remaining focused.

"It's just like our last battle with him... Remember?" Minion asked his friend who nodded his bulbous blue head.

Megamind was silent for a long moment before nodding, "Ok, here's the plan…"

* * *

Wayne felt sick to his stomach; his head hurt and his vision blurred. He knew Megamind was still close, he could hear his muffled discussion with Minion in his reinforced Invisible car and was ready when the blue alien ran out and started shouting, "Hey! Nitros! Yoohooooo!"

The villain stopped his attack on the hero and whirled around, his silver eyes wide and wild. Being nearsighted as he was, all he could see without his glasses was a blurry blue figure down the road waving two dark arms in the air. "Megamind!" he snarled and took off after the figure, leaving the hero leaning on the wreckage of a small car.

As soon as Nitros was far enough away, the sickness let up and but he still found himself weak and he pinched the bridge of his nose and just tried to breathe.

Hearing two pairs of footsteps approaching he allowed them to pick up each one of his arms and pull him to his white clad boots.

"How do you feel Wayne?" Roxanne asked quietly.

"Like I'm gonna puke." He mumbled back.

"We'll get you out of here Mister Scott." Minion assured him. "Sir's off distracting him now."

"Ugh, it's just like last time…" Metro Man breathed, "Every time _he's_ around, I don't know, I just feel sick and... gross."

"We'll… take you back to my place." Roxanne suggested and nodded to the fish who looked at her in surprise. "I got ginger ale and soup there."

The hero winced, "I don't even want to think about eating…"

"You'll feel better once you do." Roxanne stated firmly once they reached the opening in the air that signified the inside of the car, (the outside still being in stealth mode).

Wayne eased himself in the passenger seat without much fuss and draped an arm over his face.

The other two looked at each other and the woman chewed the inside of her cheek, "What about Megamind?"

By this time, the henchfish had already managed to get to the driver's sea. Raising his watch and whispered, "Aqua Man to Bad Blue, come in."

Roxanne dropped her expression to raise an eyebrow, "Code names, really?"

Before the fish could respond, his watched announced, _"This is Bad Blue, do you have Golden Boy? Over."_

"Affirmative, and Hissy-Pants and I have managed to get him into the Invisible car without incident. Proceed to pick up?"

"I'm _not_ going to be called 'Hissy-Pants'." The reporter stated firmly.

"Ok, Hissy-_Britches_." the two said simultaneously, then Minion gasped and said, "Three, two one, _jinx_ you owe me a _coke_! Yes!" he fist pumped as Megamind cursed through the watch.

_"Not fair! Redo! The-the communication relay – it – it cut me off!"_

Roxanne covered her face and let out an annoyed huff of air, "Honestly, and you guys are supposed to be professionals…" then in a fit of authority, Roxanne reached over Metro Man's body, grabbed Minion's wrist and yanked the watch towards her. In barely concealed aggravation she shouted, "Megamind, we are going to pick you up and then we are all going to my place and we are going to figure out just what the fuck is going on, do you fucking understand me?!"

* * *

There was a static pause as Megamind (hiding behind piles of garbage on Townsend Avenue), watched his former elder pass by him angrily, his umbrella tapping on the street as he cursed the heavens for the blue alien. His heart hammered in his blue chest as he rubbed his tingling left forearm. _How? How did he escape?! _The old scar on his arm throbbed and he flexed his fingers repeatedly. He closed his eyes and gulped when Nitros's words found him even when their owner couldn't.

"Where are you _boy_?" He never spoke too loudly but somehow his voice carried on the wind and made the goosebumps rise under his black and blue suit. Megamind pulled at his highnecked collar, suddenly feeling it difficult to breathe.

Finally the old man stopped and turned in the vacant street and spoke to the silence, "I will see you again, Megamind... Mark my words I will avenge Freisa..." Then he tipped his fedora as a white fog billowed at his feet and with a turn of his heel, he vanished into thin air.

Letting out a bated breath, Megamind leaned back against the plastic gar-bage bags and tapped his watch thoughtfully. _Avenge Friesa... What does he think I did to her? I hadn't seen her since... _He instantly calculated, "... fifteen years, six months and five days... The day that I-"

Roxanne's voiced snapped out of his watch just then, "-_-do you fucking understand me?!_"

* * *

**a/n: another chapter! Yay! I've been editing these chapters like mad so that's what's taking so long.**

**I actually finished the whole story with the month deadline for Ele's contest and like Hunger said, it really pushed my into working under a deadline - which is crazy... I still can't believe I got an entire story finished by the due date. I'm floored. :P**

**Once again, Thanks to Eleathyra for the inspration, Annie for betaing, Vast and Alpha for reading to make sure it's legible. hope you guys like it.**

**I will start posting links to the pictures once those scenes are shown, just have to get all the story down first.**

**P.s. Sorry for the "Rick-Roll" I couldn't resist when it came to Hal. XD**


	4. White Moves First

Chapter 3

White Moves First

* * *

The only sound that started in the apartment that afternoon was the sound of a key being roughly inserted into its lock, and after some jarring, the heavy _thunk_ of the lock fell out of place and Roxanne Ritchi's red front door flew open.

Sidling in first came Minion, walking backwards in his big clunky suit, holding a pale Metro Man under the shoulders followed by the torso and eventually bringing up the rear with the hero's feet, Megamind who huffed and puffed inside. _Man, I really need work on that Dehydration gun prototype..._

Lastly came the reporter who quickly shut and locked, deadbolt and initiated the Anti-Megamind Security System (biggest waste of money she ever spent) upon the door before quickly trotting towards the large wall length windows.

As the two carrying the third stood just inside the entrance, Megamind casted a lazy glance around her familiar posh apartment, "Miss Ritchi, where you like your newest…" he dropped a foot with a thud, "_drape_."

Her response was an offhanded wave as she walked to each one of her windows to shut the curtains. Frowning worriedly when the outside continued to snow, her balcony already white with it. "Oh man… this is not good…"

"So where should we-?" Minion started but glared at his boss who was currently watching the reporter as she scurried from window to window. "Ahem." he tried once, but still his friend stared at the woman with a strange fascination and with a grumpy huff, he jerked the woozy wonder guy to get his attention. "A_hem_!"

Megamind snapped to attention and stared at his fish innocently, "What?"

"A little help would be awesome, thanks."

With a withering sigh, Megamind grabbed the hero's boot and shot Wayne a scathing glare. "You better thank me later - the reason why I'm even doing this is because my precious brain bots are programmed to cut your hair on sight."

He was met with a halfhearted grunt.

Jumping on this, Minion tried to reason, "You see, he is sick! The fact that he's not ready with a comeback is a clear sign that he isn't well. You guys have legendary banter."

Finished with the last of the curtains Roxanne passed the three with an eye roll, "Yeah. _Legendary_. Last month's escapade was filled with 'yo momma!' and 'no you d'int' jokes."

The two maneuvered the hero over to the living room where both had to make a choice; full size couch, or loveseat? So many options and Megamind's patience was already thin; his left arm kept throbbing in phantom pain and he itched to run it under some water.

When he could see that the reporter was out of hearing range he whispered to his friend, "My scar is hurting."

Minion raised a boney eyebrow, "...scar?"

"You know... The one that... Nitros gave me..."

The fish looked guilty then and Megamind shook his head, "You _know_ I don't blame you."

Once they reached the couch, the two swung the sickly hero back and forth and then released him in an awkward heap upon the couch. "_Umph!_"

"Why do you think it's hurts?" Minion straightened up and watched his companion rubbed his arm.

"Maybe it's like phantom limb pain..." Metro Man grumbled as he readjusted himself on the couch, "Whenever you think about Nitros, you feel the burn."

Minion nodded in agreement, "And there's the question on Miss Burne's apparent death as well."

Megamind's greens eyes turned thoughtful and he rubbed his pointed blue chin, "When I was... not cowardly hiding behind some... not _smelly_ stuff... He made it clear that he thinks_ I_ did something to her..." then he shrugged in pure cluelessness, "But I swear I haven't seen her since -"

"The last of the Cold Wars..."Metro Man mumbled,

"Exactly. For once in my life I am truly and irrevocably innocent of all charges."

"All this makes my gills itch." Minion frowned, taking the camcorder out of his chest compartment and began hooking it up to the tv. "He was pretty diabolical last time we fought him but now he seems to want to take things to the next level."

The trio went silent from the gravity of this situation.

Finally Roxanne made her back into the living room with a bowl of soup, crackers and a can of ginger ale. "Feeling any better Wayne?" She asked, checking his forehead for a fever. Behind her, the super genius folded his arms and looked away grumpily.

Sitting in a more comfortable position Wayne shrugged. "A little, I guess."

"Aw, that's so cute… you tending to his every need." Megamind cut in a little too obnoxiously. "Like a good little girlfriend."

Ignoring him Roxanne patted the hero on the shoulder and snarked right back, "No need to be jealous Megamind. Contrary to what you may _think_..." Then she'd fixed him an ironic look, "You don't actually _know_."

"Ooooh... That's four to one." Wayne held up his fingers, "Minion we need to start placing bets."

From behind the television Minion chirped back, "My money's on sir."

Staunchly clearing his throat Megamind flopped down on her coffee table, taken a back. "Alright, let's get this road show going!"

Roxanne sat on her recliner and rolled her eyes while taking off her heels, "That's 'show on the road' genius."

"I-I _know_ that! I'm simply_ too_ distracted by the current events to properly pontificate a response correctly!"

The woman gave Wayne a look but all he could do was shrug and sip his soup.

"There, ready." Minion announced waving the remote gleefully.

Roxanne smiled wickedly at the blue alien, "Oh aren't you just the _best_ Minion!" She leapt to her feet and trotted her way over to the fish give him a big hug, "You are marvelous, you sweet fish, you!"

The fish's scales blushed a rosy pink and giggle bubbled out of him. "Well… I just… you know… heh… um…"

Incensed, Megamind crossed his arms and legs and turned facing the balcony. _What a soppy love fest. 'You're the best Minion', 'Are you alright Wayne?', 'Don't be jealous, Megamind!' Ha Ha! Me?! Jealous?! As if!_

"Oh, what's _wrong_ Megamind?" The woman teased. "You look a little flustered."

Like lightning Megamind whirled around and snatched the remote out of his companion's iron digits. "I am just _very_ concerned about the sudden reappearance of the most evil villain in all of _evilry_ and you guys are busy having a loving o-raygee! I would_ think_ that our current predicament would have tempered your- your _willy ways_!" He wiggled his black gloved fingers at her torso with a disapproving scowl, "Temptress!"

Minion held up two fingers with a knowing grin toward the man from the Glaupunkt.

Plopping down on the red lounge chair, Roxanne grumped as Megamind made a grand show of pressing the play button, _who_ _said temptress anymore_?

In short time, Hal's video began to play...

_"Good day to you my old friends… Yes, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Nitros smiled charmingly into the camera. "Fifteen years in fact and my, have things changed… I am astounded for instance about your involvement with Metro Man, Megamind; I find it curious that you would assist the hero in my capture all those years ago. Curious still, of the absence of my second in command, Freisa. You remember her, don't you old sport?" the old man scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I find it... a bit surprising that there is not much record of her disappearance. When I awoke in prison, our old colleagues swear that you are the guilty party in her death." Nitros went silent for a moment and let out a visibly cold breath. When he looked into the camera once more, his eyes were colder than death... "You have taken that which I valued above all else - complete, absolute power in a beautiful arctic world." _

_This time Nitros looked thoughtful as he walked up to a statue of man in a suit holding a briefcase and placed a causal arm on his shoulder. "At one point, I had high hopes for you. You were so young - such a volatile nature that held so much promise Megamind, but alas..." Although the statue was already frozen solid, his very icy touch continued to freeze it until the man it was made out of cracked and shattered. "I will have my vengeance. And if you are too cowardly to face me then know this-I will have no hesitancy, no second thought, no mercy as I freeze this city. Tower to home, mother to child, daylight til dusk! I will find you Megamind, I promise." Taking a moment to regain his composure, he quickly ran his fingers through is white hair and put his fedora back on. "I find myself questioning your unwillingness to face me. Are you good or evil? The hero or the villain?" the vengeful Nitros stood straighter, looking aristocratically into the camera. "It will be good fun to see who is on whose side, hm?" _

_He tipped the brim of his hat in farewell. "Ta."_

And the video ended.

The apartment was silent when the television went black.

Roxanne, having had drawn her knees up to her chest scanned the faces of the three aliens sitting on her furniture staring stone faced at the screen.

Realizing that she was showing her anxiety, she returned her feet to the floor and laced her fingers on top of them. With a nervous swallow, she let her investigative reporter skills rise to the situation at hand; Minion, Megamind's ever calm, cheerful fish looked positively frantic, his large brown eyes darting this way and that as his mechanical fingers fiddled with his pad and paper. There was Megamind, the would-be ego maniac curiously quiet and timid looking. And finally, Metro Man sitting up and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Taking a deep breath, the journalist finally broke the silence. "Alright boys, spill."

After the three extraterrestrials exchanged wary glances Minion spoke first, "Well you see Miss Ritchi, it's like this…"

"We _may_ have a problem-" Megamind explained vaguely.

"-A _big_ problem-" Metro Man added, looking a bit sheepish.

"A very _big_, very _angry_ problem…"

"One that we thought we solved few years before you came to Metrocity…"

"And it's returned and now I think I need to change my tank water." The scales on Minion's sides turned pink with embarrassment.

Holding up her hands Roxanne tried to put on the brakes as they began speaking over each other, "Guys, seriously, one at a time -"

"Alright boys, listen up," Metro Man ordered. Renewed from his bout of sickness, he stood up and stared down fiercely at the two other aliens that he grew up with, "Megamind, we tried it your way last time and it didn't work; now we're going to do it _my_ way."

The blue scientist looked up and jumped off his perch at that, "Hey, who said the sick guy gets to give orders?!" raising himself to his full height, Wayne took the situation in hand immediately. With a gloved finger he pointed to the loveseat behind the big headed genius and commanded,

"Sit your bum biscuits _down!_"

The other two went silent as they watched rivals stare each other down.

But after a few seconds, Megamind decided his legs were much too tired to stand anyway and slowly he took his time to lower himself back down onto the seat, "I'm only sitting because_ I_ feel like it - not because you told me too."

But the hero ignored his mutterings, and instead pointed a finger at his not girlfriend, "Roxie," the woman looked at him puzzled, "Sorry babe, but until things are settled, you're on lock down."

"Quoi?"

Speaking up as well, Megamind nodded, "As _loathe_ as I am to admit it, he's right Miss Ritchi. We can't have you sticking your nosey self into villain business."

"Don't _I_ get a say in this?!"

Minion bobbed his head in agreement. "I'm really sorry Miss Ritchi but they're right… It's definitely not safe; this guy is the baddest of guys."

Roxanne slid her hands down her face; no one was getting anywhere like this and she needed information. Trying not to resort to extreme actions she calmly gritted through her teeth, "Really, it's very sweet of you three to be worried about me, but please, you all know I'm going to be a part of this somehow… Just tell me what happened?"

"Metro Man, tell your girlfriend she's not allowed to be in the middle." Megamind whined. "I'd really hate for her to get hurt," When the hero raised an eyebrow the bad boy cleared his throat and folded his arms, "Uh, because, what I mean it, I'd really hate to have to find another victim! You know how hard it is to find a kidnappee who can work around your busy work schedule?"

The hero looked at the reporter who stared tauntingly back and he looked at the genius in discomfort, "Look, dude, she's not going to listen to me..."

"Ugh," Megamind sat back down and pointed a finger in her face, "Fine! But if you get hurt, don't say I didn't try to pro – I mean _warn _you."

She rolled her eyes, "If I can handle you guys on a daily basis, I'm sure I'll be just fine." And then she pretended to bite his finger.

He cleared his throat and took Minion's notes out of his hands and began to draw.

"Nitros..." Megamind trailed flipping the paper over as he started scribbling a small comic to illustrate the tale he knew she needed. "Is – _was_ the founder and leader of The Doom Syndicate."

"Didn't he try to take over the city or something …" she tapped her lip thoughtfully, "The… 'Great Cold Wars', it was called, right?"

"Yes and one day, _out-of-the-blue_ he just declared war and boom! Metrocity was the target!" Megamind held up his drawing of a tall man in a three-piece suit with overly haughty features (with added embellishments such as, horns, a forked tail, fangs, a monocle and a triangular shaped beard) standing next to a chubby girl in a super suit with a long braid of hair and glasses over her mask.

They both had word bubbles over their heads; the man's which read as, 'Grrr! I'm crazy evil! Beware Metrocity, mwhahahaha! Hiss!' while the girl's read, 'Megamind is the most handsome and intelligent man alive and totally dateble!'

Roxanne raised an eyebrow and fixed the alien a droll look. "Really?"

"If Metro Man and I hadn't called a truce and teamed up when we had, we would have lost the entire city in a tundra. You're _welcome_…" Megamind then dramatically sighed covering one arm over his eyes as he let the paper slide to the floor.

"Thank you for going out of your way to save us all. So why can't you just do it again?"

"Because he's smart – and not just smart-smart, he's like _Sir_-smart." Minion answered.

"Wow, Megamind was actually bested by a _human_?" The reporter leaned in at this news scoop, her grey eyes twinkling in interest.

"Noooo, no, no, _no_!" The villain shook his finger fervently, "I didn't say that – _nobody_ said that!" he casted a threatening gaze at the other two in warning.

"Of course not sir." The fish patted him on the back while casting a long suffering look to the other two. "No one's saying anything contradictory to what you believe."

"Okay so then how did you capture him the first time?"

Wayne jerked his thumb to Megamind as he straightened up to a sitting position, "_Genius_ over here decided that the best way to capture an ice man was to freeze him."

Roxanne snorted. "Wait, wait, wait… _Freezing_ an _Ice_ Man? Wow, you've had some bad ideas before but really…"

Suddenly becoming very interested in a coaster , said genius mumbled, "…seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"So… what are you three going to do about this?"

"Screaming ourselves silly sounds like a viable option." Minion replied thoughtfully. "But I don't know, running away to Mexico and changing our identities is also pretty tempting."

Megamind snorted, "You'll find any excuse for us to wear those Mariachi outfits, wont you?"

"_Si_!"The fish nearly squealed.

"Guys, seriously!" Roxanne huffed. "I get some answers or I'm throwing a fit; which is it? Wayne," she turned a frustrated look to the brawny hero, "Give me some answers here, will ya?"

Finally, Metro Man gave a weary sigh, "Megamind, Nitros happened _way_ before Roxie moved to the city, just tell her the story."

Megamind glared at the hero before sipping from his pig mug. Several moments stretched as he took his time to respond.

When it was obvious that they were waiting for him, he finally sighed, "Ok… It all happened back when we were all seniors in highshool…" Then his green eyes became wistful as a dreamy expression flowed across his features. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…We were at the pinnacle of success in the tasks that fate had given us..." Megamind gesticulated with his hands, "There we were, Me and Metro Dude, having our usual game of Cat and Cat –"

"Cat and mouse you mean." Wayne interrupted.

Sighing, Roxanne rested her chin in her palm, "Why do I even bother asking? I should just google like every other sane person_._"

"It was the beginning of the golden age of our conflict…" The villain sighed reflectively with a nod, "_Mmm_, never has the concept of failure ever tasted as good as then. Everything was sunshine and rosy until Nitros decided that Metrocity seemed like a pretty good place to turn into a tundra wasteland…"

* * *

_Fifteen years prior..._

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Minion cried frantically as he revved the hover bike for ramming speed as enormous icicles exploded from the nearest frost covered building. "Why can't this thing go any faster?!"

In his side view mirrors he could see a river of ice speeding behind him, winding around obstacles like they were nothing, a lone dark figure of a man rode it and whose expression was that of pure rage.

_"COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!"_ Nitros, leader of the Doom Syndicate challenged. He skated on the pathway of ice behind the fish, ducking and swerving to avoid Megamind's then newly created Brain Bots. He hurled snowballs at the cyborgs which caused them to fall to the earth in a solid block of ice!

"But I'm a fish!" Minion called back over his shoulder with another wail of terror.

From his communication watch, Megamind's voice rang out, _"Remember, Minion, we only have one shot at this! Just keep moving! Wayne is making sure Nitros doesn't slip past you-"_

"Tell me again why I agreed to be the bait!"

_"Because no one has answered our ad to be a full time victim yet and I can't drive, now pay attention!"_ Megamind commanded through the watch, _"Nitros is following you but Freisa is still out there – biding her time. Once he's locked up, she'll strike in a matter of time."_

Turning in his tank, Minion gasped when he found the furious Nitros was easily gaining on him. "Sir, why won't you get your Evil learner's permit?!"

_"Oh Minion, quit being such a drama queen."_

* * *

_"I'm too young to be a fish stick!" _Minion_'s voice shrieked from his brand new communication watch._

Megamind rolled his green eyes as he finished the last few tweaks on his Cryogenic Freezer. He was cold and tired, and cranky since he had been up for the past thirty-six hours working on this plan and all he wanted to do was get back to terrorizing his city…

_"Hey Megamind… you there?"_ Came Metro Dude's weary voice this time, from the same watch.

The blue teen-scientist casted a long suffering look at the cloudy afternoon sky before flinging down his wrench and huffing, "Any sign of Freisa yet?"

_"Nada. But, hey, Little Dude, I've been thinkin' - you ever consider the career of super herosim?"_

Slumping Megamind rubbed the back on his neck, "Wayne, we've been over this. I'm a _bad_ guy, alright? I'm a monster who is generally unaccepted and unloved."

_"Aw come on, little buddy! It's just a phase –"_

"Heh, your _mom's_ a phase!"

The tone of his rival came back disaproving, "Are_ you proud of yourself?"_

In shame, he kicked at some snow on the rooftop, "No I'm not."

_"Well one of the perks about being a hero is better one-liners."_

Grunting, Megamind huffed, "I said no! After this, we're back to our old rivalry – now get back to work!"

He heard a sigh from his enemy, _"Fine, have it your way."_

Throwing his hands in the air, Megamind cursed, "Mother of Science!"

In aggravation he looked around that the nearly frozen city, glistening in the late afternoon light. It was so not fair! Metro is his to take and within the week, Nitros and Freisa turned half the city into the arctic!

How could they? Hadn't he done everything that was expected of him when he joined the syndicate? This had to be punishment of some sort... Absentmindedly, Megamind touched his injured forearm tenderly feeling the bandaged underneath his black hoodie's sleeve; the reminder of his last battle with the leader. He frowned worriedly at the memory.

He shook his large blue cranium vigorously to rid himself of the memory. After that battle, he refused to allow anyone to stomp all over his city!

Warden had also promised that since this was considered community service, whatever offenses he had wracked up in his short seventeen years, would be wiped clean before his eighteenth birthday. _Nothing like a fresh start to get back in to dark way of things._ "I don't care what Mr. Good-two-shoes says, I'm not helping him! Metrocity is _my_ city! Its people are _my_ people and as long as I'm wicked, I'll protect it no matter the costs."

Then, roughly grabbing the wrench, he banged and clanged it against the machine in his irritation. It wasn't like he didn't… _want_ to be good… it's just it wasn't what fate had assigned to him. He was the bad guy while Wayne was the good guy… That was the roles they were given no matter how much he felt trapped in it… "How dare he wish to be friends with me! he knows better than anyone that it's impossible! Who does he think he is anyway? Some kind of… goody-goody 'I want to be friends with everyone!' guy? _Please_. Minion's the only friend I ever need…"

"Aw…"

"Augh!" Megamind jumped, the wrench flying out of his hand and skidding atop the building's roof.

He twisted to find Freisa sitting on the edge of the roof watching him with her head tilted. "That's sweet."

_CRAP!_ His green eyes darted all over the place, _Crappity crap, crap! _

"Whatcha doin'?" She asked politely, fluttering her long lashes innocently, a coy smile pulling at her mouth. "That wouldn't be for Nitros and me, would it?"

"Uh…" Megamind glanced from the freezer back to Freisa. "For you two? Oh, no, no, no… not at all…" _Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap._

When she stood up, her she made an effort to hide her plump curves under her cape. The mask she wore hid most of her round face and although she was still chubby with baby fat, the young girl was actually really pretty with her long blond hair and pale blue eyes. The costume she wore was a light blue with white lining, knee length pleated skirt with matching boots and elbow length gloves. The cape matched the ensemble and she stood still to keep it from revealing too much of her heavy figure.

Burne folded her arms and cocked her head, her thick hair in a braid swished with the movement, "Really, because that looks to me like a cryogenic freezer capable of encasing him and forcing him into sedation – which would, admittedly, be an ironic way to defeat him."

Clearing his throat, Megamind mirrored her posture but kept his left side turned away from her in favor of his still injured arm and denied, "Well it's not – why on Ear-th would I ever want to capture someone from the Doom Syndicate, Nitros above all? Th-that wouldn't be very smart and-and I _am_ very smart."

The girl frowned and began to scrutinize him; her brow furrowed in thought. Her blue eyes scanned him from head to toe, taking careful inventory of his turned away side and after several long beats, the alien teen began to twitch. He had the distinct impression that she was analyzing him bit by bit, visually stripping him past his clothes, skin, muscle, bone until she reached to his very core.

Panic began to fuel his thoughts,_ Oh man, what is she doing? She's going to freeze me right here and in the most embarrassing position and everyone's going to laugh at me and Minion will never let me live it down! _Underneath his warm winter clothes, his heart thundered, and he felt himself perspire. His left arm throbbed painfully.

As the seconds ticked by, his mouth became dry and he waited for her to make the first move. _Ok, stay cool… White always moves first; don't let her see you act nervous… _As much as he wanted to look away, he resisted the urge to do so.

After what seemed like forever she finally blinked and glanced at her shoes, "You're right. It wouldn't. This isn't nearly enough to keep him under controlled."

Ok, he wasn't expecting that. "What?"

Still looking at her shoes, she mumbled, "I'm sorry about your arm..." and then she looked up unhappily, "I didn't think... Nigel could have ended it all right there last time and... um... this won't be enough to hold him."

The breath of relief left him in such a rush, he leaned a hand on his cryogenic tube to keep his legs under him. "Ok, I was expecting something different. But correct me if I'm wrong Miss Burne, but why would you be concerned with me capturing him?"

She didn't answer but moved around to examine the tube from every which way. "This won't be enough to stop him. Not for long anyway; you need a more… _permanent_ solution."

Megamind folded his arms and huffed, "Listen… I know what everyone else is like in the Syndicate… I know what Nitros has _done_ in the past… But, that's not for me, ok?" he looked out towards teh city, "I'm not a killer."

She traced a finger along the freezer and mumbled, "I didn't say you had to be. I just think you need to outsmart him."

Finally Megamind sighed and rubbed his face, "I tried. I was certified as a genius when I was _ten years old_! But… but, he's just too _brilliant_… I respect him as much as I fear him."

The girl, now squatting to examine the machine at the bottom looked up through her glasses when he shook his giant blue head and continued, "But he's using his genius for eviler purposes than I am and I can't let that happen. He's going to destroy the city, maybe even the _world_ if we don't finish this today – now."

She shook her head, "No, he wouldn't destroy the world. He's too ambitious for that."

"What do you mean?"

Freisa hitched a shoulder in a shrug, "Nitros has other plans for this world than mayhem and destruction. That's why he chose this city as his starting point."

Megamind gasped and stomped his foot angrily, "But that's not fair! This is my city and I won't have some bad guy stomping around on it!"

Then the stoic girl cracked a smile, "Wow, aren't we sympathatic for humans?"

The boy nearly smacked himself for almost to showing any kind of… compassion for humanity. He couldn't suppress the shudder at the thought. "Sympathy? For humans?! Do I look like a hero? _Eugh_!" he stuck his tongue out in disgust.

Watching his grossed out expression, Freisa couldn't help cracking the tiniest smile before hiding it before her hand, but not before he caught the smallest glimpse of her silver braces. Then he watched her school he expression back to blank and looked down at her boots.

When he saw this, a silly idea came to him _She looks like she could loosen up a bit. _And he made an exaggerated slap to his face and wobbled his head around precariously, "Ooooh, my _brain!_ My superiorly _gorgeous_ brain!"

The girl made a quiet noise, as if she was trying to keep her giggles in.

The sound allowed him to relax a little. This human girl was his age, why was she so... stiff? Ever since he met her during his villainous orientation he always knew her to be a bit… uptight. Rigid. It was… surprising and kind of nice to see her laugh for once.

_She's seems almost… nice when her boss isn't around... hm…_ Course, this was perhaps the only time he had ever actually conversed with her without the Doom's founder hovering around. When he saw her shoulders shaking from holding back her giggles, he smiled, "It's ok, you can laugh, it's funny."

She laughed... once. Twice. Now her laughter came rolling out and she fought to keep her hand over her mouth. Megamind only chuckled with his eyebrows raised in delighted surprise. _Geez, it wasn't that funny... It's b__een a while since you last laughed, huh?_

Then Minion's voice sounded on the watch, _"Sir, we'll be there in ten minutes but Nitros is closing in and Metro Dude has to keep a safe distance!" _This was ended with another falsetto shriek from the fish.

Megamind looked up and noticed that the henchgirl stopped laughing and returned to looking serious. "Uh…" he felt helpless. She had looked as if she were opening up a little bit…

Then she turned around and stared off into the distance and Megamind watched with interest as she flexed and unflexed her hands. "I have to go."

"Wait, Miss Burne – Freisa," He took a step closer to her, "I mean, maybe we could, I don't know… hang out sometime."

The girl frowned, her mask scrunched up where her eyebrows were, "Um… Maybe..."

Then he grinned hopefully, "It-it could be fun. We could sneak into a movie… under tip a deserving server for dinner…." He added offhandedly. What was he doing? He was actually asking a girl out! And not just any girl but _Freisa Burne_! The ally of his enemy! "I just think... that it could be cool, you know, if we... could maybe... be friends?"

_Teenage hormones! Yeah that's it! She's a girl and I'm a guy and we're the same age and what the crab nugget is wrong with me?! _

Freisa returned her gaze to the city. With the light of the sunset, behind her, Megamind could just barely make out her expression. He tried not to show his disappointment when all she asked was, "Will this machine lock him up for good?"

"Of course it will, I designed it!" he boasted, trying to hide his unease.

Turning her head she watched him again, "But _will_ it?"

"Yeah… I mean… It _should_…" he sounded less confidant now that she was actually questioning his judgment. "It almost sounds like you want it to work."

When they locked eyes, Megamind felt a strange sensation along his spine. "You… don't want it to work, do you? I mean, that's your – _our_ boss… If he goes, then you'd be in command of the Syndicate…"

Then it dawned on him and he nearly smacked his head again, "Of course! That's what you want,_ isn't it_?"

Her response came flatly, almost stone-like, "Yeah. Totally. You read my mind."

The boy fit pumped, "And Minion said I was crazy!"

She laughed again as a cold wind blew past the two, making Megamind shiver.

After another long pause, Freisa finally looked back at him, "Look, how about I just stay out of the way here? Then when Nitros is finished for good, I'll treat you to a smoothie, how's that sound?"

Megamind made a move to the freezer, but stopped to watch the girl who was now looking in the direction that the wind was blowing from. _Wait… is she asking what I think she's asking me? _Blinking, the seventeen year old raised his eyebrows, "You mean it?"

The girl looked at him again, for the last time and once more he felt that she was analyzing him in every excruciating detail. _Did she just… ask me out on a… date?_

For what seemed like forever she nodded again with a smile. "Yes."

He jumped back wondering if his newly discovered mind reading abilities have the ability to put thoughts into other people's brains. _Need to be careful when I start having teenage boy thoughts…_

"And I owe you for what happened last time." she added with a meaningful look towards his arm.

_"Boss! Boss!"_ Minion's voice practically screamed from the watch, _"We're three blocks away! Oh god, he's so mad! Why did you tell him the yellow ice was a lemon sorbet?!"_

Perking up instantly, Megamind practically glowed with joy, "Awesome! It's a date!" Then he hurried back to his machine and prepared the final measurements. "I got the whole date planned already! We'll get smoothies, vandalize some shoolhouses, make fun of nuns – it'll be great! We're going to have loads of fu- hey?"

When he turn to look up for her, he found that she was no longer there.

Like she had appeared, she had vanish without a sound. "Miss – Miss Freisa?"

_"Megamind, Minion is heading your way, Nitros is closing in – are you ready to rumble?!" _Wayne called out through his watch.

With a shrug at the girl's sudden departure, the genius prepared for the capture with a newfound excitement swelling within him. He'd see her soon anyway.

"Yeah, let's rock!"

* * *

Having had left the couch in the middle of his story, Megamind now stood at a window, peering outwards behind the curtains.

"… and that was the last time I saw her." He finished sadly, fixing the drape back and returning towards the sitting. "I waited for her to pick me up from jail but she never did and, after a while, I don't know… I just kind of gave up."

Minion was walking back from the kitchen with a tray and four mugs of cocoa, "Don't worry sir, there's plenty other fish in the sea."

Megamind shrugged, helping himself to a pink piggy mug (the manliest looking one of the bunch), "I just wish that she could have been honest if she didn't want to go out with me, that's all. A simple 'no' would have sufficed. And she was real cute too…"

Grabbing her favorite, (a little green frog) the brunette reporter had tucked her bare feet under her on her matching the matching lounge chair and reflectively blew on her cocoa. "Well, a lot of seventeen year old girls are like that." Roxanne sipped her from her mug and smiled sweetly at the fish.

Sitting on the couch now Wayne leaned forward and stared at the contents of white bunny mug, "Eh, you're better off without her; I heard a rumor that she was a little, you know… _loose in her tights_ if you catch my drift…"

Megamind tilted his head, "Loose in her tights?"

"Um, what Wayne is saying is that her _cape was hung up on other villains hook_… so to speak." Minion tried to explain in layman's terms placing the tray on the coffee table and sitting next to the hero.

Megamind just looked confused, "What?"

Finally, with a slam of her mug onto the table, Roxanne snapped, "Are you guys serious? There's a madman running loose in the city and you're talking about _girls_? Listen, you three beat him once already you can do it again!" when the three just stared in disbelief, she sighed, "Wayne, you're invulnerable but no offense, you're no genius compared to Megamind—"

He sipped from the bunny mug, "None taken."

She swallowed from her frog mug and gestured with her cup, "Megamind, I'm sorry but as intelligent as you are I don't think you can benchpress a box of doughnuts-"

Folding his arms and looking away, he groused, "Thanks for rubbing that in my face."

"Minion-"

"Aw _come on_, I'm just a fish—"

"You know _everything_ about Megamind's inventions." Then she beamed, "You three are what holds our city together! Call another truce and join forces again!"

Metro Man launched to his feet (nearly upending the coffee table with it), "Roxie's right, Megamind, I'm calling an official time out. We need to finish him once and for all and _you're_ gonna help me."

"Why do Minion and I have to help again?"

Roxanne lunged to her bare feet and pointed a finger at him. "Because I _said so_ - that's why!" Then a crazed look entered her grey eyes, "And because this could make the story of the century! Think about it Good and Evil joining forces _again_! Yin and Yang in perfect harmony! It's Pulitzer gold!"

Getting to his feet as well, Megamind put his hands on his hips, "Who said _you_ were coming? It's too dangerous for you."

"_I_ said so and shut up." The reporter snapped. "I will not sit by while the _greatest story in the history of Metro_ happens right outside my apartment!"

Megamind opened his mouth to argue the point further but was instantly silenced when Metro Man cleared his throat, "Ok, first off, we need all the information about Burne and Nitros we can find. Then we need to understand why I can't use my powers around them. But first, we need a base of operations – All in favor of Roxanne's apartment say aye. Aye!" He raised his hand quickly.

"Aye!" Minion raised both a mechanical arm and a fin.

"A-yee!" Megamind followed suit without hesitation.

Instantly realizing what she had walked into Roxanne held up both hands, "What? Oh no, no, no! None of you can stay here!"

The three men all nodded together in unison.

"No! Get out of my apartment!"

It was time for a plan of action.

"Get out! None of you are staying here!" but her reperimands were heard on deaf ears.

Find out what happened to Freisa Burne and put an end to Nitros's reign once and for all.

* * *

**A/n: yaaaay, finally! **

**As I've mentioned before, I had this all written out and have just been taking my time in editing before I post it on here. It's kind of funny, but I was laying half asleep one night when I suddenly realized with stunning clarity that... ok, don't get upset... I made no mention of his DE-Gun ANYWHERE throughout this story! I just... never consciously thought about it... I give it at least an honorable mention in my other fics but I don't think I made a single instance of something needing to be dehydrated... I know. I'm ashamed. **

**That's why I made a mention up there ^ of him needing to work on his old prototype from his shool days. **

**Hey, if this is premovie then it could work! I'll just fit it in somewhere in the future. :P**

**Anyway, can't say when the next chap will be up. Soon hopefully. Thank you to my reviewers who've commented so far! **

**TanyaKaine: thank you for the helpful critique - I hadn't noticed those errors till you brought it to my attention.**

**Vast: Thank you as always. :3**

**Katie: I hope you post that project you've been working on soon. ;D**

**Enjoy the read and don't forget to review!  
**


	5. Castling

Chapter 4

Castling

* * *

Nitros stood in front of a gleaming Metro Tower: a representation of the city's strength. But to him, it stood as a monument to the human filth that inhabited this planet. _But not for long_, he promised himself.

Ever since his arrival, the city had become blanketed in white snow. Astonished citizens moved in hurried groups, aware of the abnormal temperature change but not so on the cause. With a knowing smirk, Nitros stood single and dark between them, watching them move blindly through the budding of his cold world.

With a sigh, he wished he could clearly see the terror etched on these peoples faces. To them this was a one time thing, odd but not anything to be concerned with. He wanted to have them quaking in fear due to his great works again, but alas, when he returned to his old lair, the old meat district warehouse, he was welcomed with the sight of a brand new housing development_. _His life's work - gone. Bulldozed, to the ground possibly and built over to house _vermin_ worse than rats._ How... how could this have happened?!_ He had thought in disbelief.

He fumed just thinking about it and could not repress the childish tantrum that threatened to arise. _MY ONE CHANCE WAS STOLEN FROM ME!_

It was fifteen years ago when he had finally set forth his plan for dominion; after _years_ and _years_ of training, Freisa had become of age and stood at the peak of her strength and intellect.

The only thing that had been left was timing. All any good strategist needed was good _timing_.

And all had seemed to go according to plan, until...

_Curse that Megamind! Curse him and his backstabbing ways!_ he growled to himself. A chill ran through the air surrounding him and several passersby shivered and felt their joints stiffen without any clue as to why.

Gone. Years of scheming and plotting wasted because of _one lone blue alien_! When the boy first joined the Syndicate Nitros himself had considered the lad a good recruit and an asset for his villainous coup. _The traitor!_

Looking up into the cloudy sky he frowned, "Freisa, how can you be truly dead? Haven't I taught you anything? How to survive and live in cunning secret?"

He had to admit to himself that his recent actions were a bit… rash. But how can one blame him for waking up years later when he could vividly remember speaking with her the day before.

* * *

"I'm through with being lenient with that blasted fool!" He shouted as he slammed a fist on the picture of the blue seventeen year old. With an icy glare, he pointed an accusing finger at his young cohort, "It's because of _your_ intervention that we are forced into this last Cold War!"

Freisa stood at attention and looked on impassively.

"What?" He barked, "No comment, _Little Miss Princess_?"

The girl closed her eyes and shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm sorry, I just thought you'd want to defeat him in some grand epic battle - not burning him and kicking him while he was down. My _mistake_..."

Nitros straightened to his full height and stared down his nose at her. "You dare talk back to me? After _all_ I've done for you?"

She averted her eyes then and mumbled, suddenly sheepish, "No sir." He was angry, rarely had she seen him like this and it worried her that he would push himself too far and hurt himself before fulfilling his life's work. And for now, she needed him more than he needed her. She inhaled a calming breath and exhaled her impatience. "Please calm down. You're not as young as you used to be..."

He threw her a sharp look. "Sometimes I feel as if I should have left you in that frozen wasteland you call home."

Freisa winced, "I wish you wouldn't say things that you don't mean..."

"That boy has made you soft, Freisa! Soft! I trained you - I trained you to be as _solid_ and as _cold_ as ice, yet you melt at the slightest flame."

The girl kept her head down in shame. The old man folded his arms and glared down at her, "Explain yourself Friesa."

The seventeen year old pulled her long blond braid over her shoulder and anxiously petted it. "I'm just... fascinated that he's an alien, that's all. He sticks out like a sore thumb, but he behaves like he belongs. You taught me that I should study all I can about everything and everyone while I'm here. I simply want to observe him before we kill him is all."

With a dismissive snort, he returned to pouring over the map of Metro. "I understand the hormonal turmoil a girl of your age is going through my dear and with this in mind, I will forgive you. But do not let loose your tongue on me again, child, lest you want something in return..." He just barely caught her inaudible sigh and tapped his long pale fingers on the table menacingly. When he sensed her strict attention he continued, "...Now let us begin our final assault."

Walking around the map of the city, Nitros wanted to make her remember that she was not apart of this wretched paradyne; for she was of the elite. "Where would you suggest we begin, hm?" She studied the map before her. He coolly observed her eyes, search and calculate odds and advantages. With no hesitancy she announced, "We will begin here." She pointed to one portion of the city, sure and ready to defend her choice.

Pleased with her assessment turned and began walking to the wall of monitors "Excellent choice, my dear. Yes, that seems like as good a spot as any. I will clear the way for you so that you may contact our allies."

She mumbled a response as he began flipping through screens. Annoyed the villain sighed, "You know I can't hear you when you do that…"

"What about Metro Dude?" She asked then, annunciating each word.

Turning over his shoulder the older villain arched an eyebrow and laughed, "He is no match for the two of us, let alone _me_. I will handle him myself."

The girl nodded curtly before glancing up at the old man, "And Megamind?"

Nitros was silent for another moment and eyed her suspiciously, fully facing her now her he quipped, "After our last fight, I am now certain of his... _effect_ on you, Freisa." then he stood straighter and turned toward the door, "I will deal with him personally."

The desperate "No!" from his second in command made him turn and look at her sternly.

The girl nervously cleared her throat and adjusted her white gloves, "I will get him out of the way. Trust me Nigel, once I am through with him he will wish he landed on another planet."

Her leader smiled coldly, "Smart girl."

* * *

He opened his pale eyes at the sound of Metro's people all around him. It seemed the rumors about the South shopping district have spread, claiming it to be the work of some lowly bad guy instead of his far superior skills.

Having never been to sport some garish display of gaudy suits and capes, he opted for the far more sophistication of a three piece Armani suit and revelled in the fact that he was overlooked in a crowd.

_"A truly evil person will lurk about unknowingly..."_ he told his protege once, many years ago. _"Never draw attention to yourself, be the wolf hidden among the lambs."_

But now she was gone and the people seemed to have forgotten all about him...

Such forgetful creatures, humans. It was an accident of birth that he happened to be one.

He guessed it was timed to remind them who they really should_ fear_.

He looked reverently back up at the tower that loomed over him, "I dreamt of a palace of Ice and Glass…"

Then he smiled nastily and in an instant, the bustling square became nothing more than his very own garden of ice sculptures.

"Come to me my friends!" he crowed in challenge, "The White King awaits!"

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Megamind asked as they arrived in front of the old museum. He glanced around at the other occupants in the car; because of his massive bulk, Metro Man sat in the front seat with Minion and Roxanne crowded in the back.

"Yes, now hurry up and park!" The reporter hissed with a careful glance at the fish next to her, "Minion doesn't look so good…"

"I get carsick in the back." He moped; the green of his scales seemed just a tad greener than normal. "Why couldn't I be up front?"

Putting it in park, Megamind huffed, "Because he called shotgun quicker than you did."

"Sorry Minion."

"Oh my god, you three are like a bunch of teenage… _boys!_" the woman snapped, taking the offered hand of the villain as she climbed out of the car. Although the backseat was huge, with poor Minion's gorilla suit, there was barely any space at all and she did her best to not let him feel awkward even if he tried to cram himself on one side to give her space. Once he was out she made sure to give him a friendly smile.

But that smile quickly faded when she looked toward the museum. "This guy is the only one I know who might give us some insight for what we're up against with Nitros.

Clearing his throat, Minion raised a finger, "If I may make a suggestion -"

But Megamind folded his arms and snapped, "We're _not_ calling Warden and that's final!"

Roxanne broke her gaze away from the building and stared at the bad boy in amazement, "Whoa, where did that come from?"

With a snort Megamind moodily stomped off towards the marble stairs of the building determination, "Oh you wouldn't understand!"

When the reporter looked at the fish a questioning eyebrow he shrugged, "It's a long story." and followed with Wayne shrugging at her as well.

* * *

Inside the museum the three followed the reporter who led the way to the Hall of Champions.

_Tch._ The villain scoffed. _Figures we'd be here in the church of heroism._ "I hope you brought some offerings Minion. Time to pray to the gods for help."

"Well if it worked for the Greeks…" he remarked.

"Barry?" Roxanne called out between the exhibits. "Hellloooooo, are you here?"

Before Megamind could ask who this Barry was, a demoted sigh echoed through the vast room. The three aliens looked at each other before following the dry voice, "Coming."

The sound of squeaky wheels rang off the high ceilings and the reporter waited in front of them anxiously. Within a few moments, a be speckled hunched over man with wild brown hair, wearing a blue turtleneck sweater with a worn brown jacket rounded the statue of Captian Obvious with a cart load of books. "Welcome to Hall of Champions." He chanted without enthusiasm. "In which we may learn all there is to be a super hero."

With renewed confidence in her ability to find answers, Roxanne excitedly proceeded to introduce her troupe, "Barry –"

"Bernard." The dry nasally voice responded automatically.

"Oh, sorry… Uh, Bernard, I… We… require some assistance - if that's not too much trouble that is!" The reporter added quickly, already feeling the ebb of her confidence dwindle as Bernard's face unblinkingly stared back at her. "You know, my... uh... _friends_… right? Guys, Bernard Nayer."

Megamind blinked at that label. Friends. She had referred to him in front of this stranger as her... _friend. _Although puzzled, he resolved to tuck this revelation into the back of his enormous mind to ponder later.

With a grand flourish behind her, the three posed dramatically but Bernard continued to stare unimpressed. "What, is there a convention in town?"

"Convention?" Minion broke character fast, "What convention?"

Leaning on his cart, he pushed his glasses further up his nose with a solitary finger, "Because those are some pretty tasteless costumes."

"Costumes?!" Megamind gasped in disbelief. Even Metro Man looked down at himself.

"Megamind's head is _not_ that grossly exaggerated." The curator continued. Then with a lazy glance he eyed Minion's gorilla suit, "And don't even get me started on your excuse."

"Hey…" Minion looked hurt. His jaw quivered as he looked down, "Sir and I worked really hard on this..." Next to him Wayne patted him brotherly on the shoulder.

Getting between them, Roxanne held up her hands, "Ok, ok, ok – boys, calm down. Bernard," She turned back towards him with need in her gray eyes, "Listen, Nitros is back in town and you're the only in Metro city who can help us find answers. Can you help us?"

The curator was silent before he lazily eyed Megamind. "You."

The blue alien recoiled in fear of this emotionally challenged human. "What?"

The man pointed to his left arm. "If you're really Megamind, you were frost bitten on your left forearm from your next to last battle with Nitros on October 23rd 1996. Show me."

Megamind's eyes widened in surprise, "Excuse me?"

The librarian continued, "February 29th 1992 you had an emergency appendectomy. You would have a slightly curved white scar above your right hip."

Minion glanced between the two, mouth ajar. "—How do you-?"

Another long, suffering sigh, "It's my job to know things."

Blinking uncertainly, Megamind peeled the sleeve of his suit up at the wrist to reveal a handprint sized scar, white and puckered slightly that stretched in the middle between his wrist and elbow.

Roxanne cleared her throat as she watched the curator pointedly, "See, they're the real deal. Can you please help us?"

Bernard released yet another pent up sigh, "_Fine_… Follow me." Then he turned his cart around and meandering back the way he had come.

Rolling her eyes, she gestured to the boys to follow her, "You could be a little more enthusiastic about it."

"I find enthusiasm… exhausting, Miss Ritchi." The curator dryly remarked.

Shyly his sleeve back into place, Megamind followed the group last. _Well... That was weird..._

* * *

Having explained the situation in brief detail, Roxanne finished and waited for Bernard to say something.

"And… That's it." Roxanne finished lamely. "Nitros thinks Megamind killed this Freisa person and he says he didn't. She was last seen the day of his capture."

"December 5th 1996." The man murmured. "The end of the Cold Wars."

"Yeah." She shrugged, "I only moved to the city, like, five years ago, and so I have _no idea_ what's going on or where I would even think to look for this girl…"

There was a long pause. In his plain, drab office, there sat a brown couch, against a brown wall on the brown floor. The whole place emitted an air of boring and plainness.

Both Wayne and Minion sat on the couch and exchanged glances at the minimalism while Megamind impatiently paced the small space between the furthest wall and the door.

When Bernard finally spoke again, all waited on edge at his long boring drawl. "Well there are certain sources I could ask… But it'll cost you."

Roxanne pulled back slightly and glanced at the boys and back again, "Wh-what do you want?"

Bernard slowly cast his gaze onto Megamind again and lifted up a digital camera. "I need a picture."

"For what?" the reporter queried.

"_Of_ _what?!_" the villain panicked, pulling his cape around him protectively.

"My blog," He replied dryly. "_The Metro Mystery._"

Just then, Minion suddenly gasped, "So you're _Nayer_naysayer_! I've been following you for months!"

Five minutes and a memory card full of awkward photos of the aliens posing with the odd… fan… Bernard busily typed away at his computer. "There are websites devoted to this... conspiracy."

Leaning around him, Roxanne read over his shoulder, "Conspiracy?"

"That's the word of the day, kids." the emotionless man snarked. "There are those of us who believe that Freisa Burne never died. That she went into hiding after Nitros was captured." He rolled his eyes at the screen, "She never _was_ a good villainess."

"_Who_killed_Freisa_Burne .com_?" Megamind read one and then the other, "'_Where_in_the_world_is_Freisa Burne .org?_' And there's more..." Websites upon websites based on the mystery of the missing girl; pictures taken of blond women all over the world as suspected Burnes; facts, myths and legends, old newspaper articles with blurry colored photos of the girl and Nitros together... There was even an aged progression sketch of what the woman would look like if she were alive today - a round faced woman with watery blue eyes behind a pair of glasses and wavy blond hair.

Roxanne let out a breath of awe, "This is... this is amazing! All of this is for her?"

"We are a group solely dedicated to the mysteries behind the scenes of the hero world. Her disappearance with the occasional alien abduction story… We have devoted our whole lives to solving… these… cold cases…" Bernard explained casually.

"Did he..." Wayne whispered from the corner of his mouth, "make an unintentional pun?"

"I think he did..." Minion whispered back in the same fashion. "Should we tell him?"

"Should we_ laugh_?"

"Wayne!" if looks could kill, her glare would turn him into stone and he flinched in fear.

Leaning to the side of his computer the man glared at the hero, "Remind me; who here knows how to find answers?"

"I think it's kind of sweet." Roxanne intervened with a light smile.

The other three looked at her in surprise and she shrugged, "Well the girl was, what? Sixteen, seventeen, when she went missing? And there's still a devoted fraction of the community determined to find out what happened to her? It's pretty cool actually. That people care enough to go looking for her. Be great for my story." She added as an afterthought.

Bernard rubbed his temples wearily, "I think I'm going to have to ask some friends of mine."

"Friends?" Wayne whispered to the fish, "This guy has _friends_?"

"Maybe they're like… W.O.W. associates…" the fish whispered back. "They associate and we go _wow_."

Ignoring everything around him, Bernard quickly tapped away at the keys until he reached a chat room on one of the conspiracy sites. More silence, followed by annoyed sighs until, "Ok, Nitrosninja280 says _'Fruit flies don't bother me for I am a tomato.'_"

The four stared at him in confused silence. "What."

The man rubbed his chin and eyed the screen thoughtfully. "It _means_… we're overlooking something. Fruit flies are attracted to sweet fruits but tomatoes are strongly considered to be a vegetable. Which means _one possible thing_."

He couldn't help it. Megamind blurted out, "That you guys are idiots?"

"Megamind!" This time it was his turn to be hissed at from the reporter.

He looked at her with a helpless gesture to the dry man. "Oh, come on, how does _that_ even make any sense?!"

Bernard groaned at having to explain something as simple as this to one with claims of such superior intellect, "Nitros was frozen, rendering him a vegetable for fifteen years. Freisa is the fruit fly; she couldn't find him as a vegetable. But now that he's _free_, the fruit fly can finally _locate_ him." Bernard gave each of them a meaningful look, "And thus, Freisa Burne will _go to him_."

They were all silent for a long moment. "Miss Ritchi," Megamind asked the reporter who looked a might sheepish, "this man is insane. I mean, that is the most ludicrous, idiotic— "

Before Roxanne could intervene, Bernard took off his glasses and began to polish them with a piece of cloth, "You of all people should know that insanity _does not_ equal stupidity."

The villain had the decency to look taken aback at this remark and simply stood there and eyed him as if he were some kind of alien.

When he couldn't formulate a reply suitable enough, Bernard pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and leaned down to the lowest drawer of his desk. When he came back up, he carefully carried two small things in each hand; a small, tattered green diary that was burned at the corners and sported a complicated looking lock and an airtight bottle with a lock of blond hair inside in the other. "These will help."

"Where did you get those?" Roxanne asked eyeing the two suspisciously.

Bernard placed the two reverently on his desk, minutely adjusting the little green book until it was completely straight and center on the surface. "I bought them a few years ago. An Ebid seller claimed that it was a lock of Burne's hair from before her disappearance. The diary was recovered from the remains of their secret hideout - the old abandoned meat packing house. It had been burned to the ground on the night of Nitros's capture - many thought it went up in flames with her inside it but there was _never_ any body... Funny how all of this happens within a spance of a day, huh?" Then he picked up the bottle again and all five leaned closely to examine the blond lock inside it. "Almost like it was _staged_..."

As they all looked at it, Metro Man made a groan. "Ugh…" When all eyes landed on him, they could see his face turned a slight green like it had earlier in his battle with the resurrected villain. "I feel sick again…"

The reporter made a small strangled noise. "Put it away - we can't afford him to pass out on us with Nitros running around!"

"Interesting." Bernard remarked. Without permission, Megamind took the bottle from him and walked over to the hero.

"Feeling a little dizzy, Wayne?" He asked as he waved the bottle in front of his face.

The hero winced and shied away from it, "Get it away from me!"

Roxanne stalked over and yanked the bottle away from the blue alien. "There's something about Burne that makes him ill…" She stared at the bottle carefully, a pensive expression on her face. "He was like this when Nitros was around too…"

"_And_ back when he attacked the city!" Minion chimed in.

Megamind's eyes widened in astonishment, "They knew… I don't know how found out… But somehow the two discovered Metro Man's _weakness_! But what could it be…" Then his eyes landed on the diary that still laid innocently on the desk. _I bet that has all the answers we'll ever need._

Wayne shrugged in silence, one hand around his stomach, the other clasping the back of his neck. "I dunno what it is but it makes me feel like I'm going to hurl…"

Roxanne gave the bottle back to Bernard and faced the villain. "You know how some people have allergies to gluten? Maybe Wayne's allergic to magic."

The blue space man raised an eyebrow, "Allergies? _Magic_, Miss Ritchi? Don't be absurd."

She placed a hand on her hip and reflected his expression, "Right because science certainly solves everything. It's not like Nitros is freezing water with any kind of- icie-fying gadgets or anything…"

"As much as I hate to take sides…" Bernard droned on next to his computer, "She has a point. The community online has theorized on it in the past."

"Well then lets ask our hero, here! Wayne, tell us, do you ever feel sick at Kris-moose _– the most magical time of the year?_" And then the villain laughed.

"I wanna die…" the hero complained. "Someone _please _just kill me."

"Well it's certainly better than no reason at all." the reporter snapped at the blue dunderhead. "I don't see you coming up with any theories."

The space man blushed but before he could continue the bland man sitting at the computer went on, "As much as I would love for you two to continue bickering in my office, I'm afraid I have work to do. I will take this sample to the science unit and have them run an analysis there. I've tried to open this journal of hers but the lock is impossible…"

The green eyes of the supergenius eyed the diary critically and stroked his goatee. "Hm, four dial locks... each lock has 26 letters of the alphabet... it's not impossible, you just need a keyword... No matter." He waved a hand carelessly, "Give it to me and I can have it open faster than you can say pis-ta-chio icecream! I bet it has all the information on Nitros that we could ever possibly need!"

On the couch Minion facepalmed with a sigh. "Pistachio."

Roxanne looked at him in offense, "You mean you're actually going to read it?"

He raised his eyebrows, "Of course, it's just a diary. Who knows what secrets lies between the hardbacks."

When he reached for it, the reporter snatched it up and tucked it protectively under her arm. "No, this is a young girl's _personal_ thoughts; don't you have any compassion? I'm not going to let you snoop around it!"

"I agree sir," Minion nodded from across the office, "We really should respect a teenage girl's privacy."

Still slightly green, Wayne shrugged, "But if she's _dead_, it's not like she's going to come back from the grave and haunt us or anything."

"You don't know that." The fish replied primly.

Megamind gave him a look, "You're saying you won't read something like this even if it meant finding out more about Nitros?"

His best friend shrugged, "I'm just saying a girl's diary is her own and we should have no part of it."

"Oh this is ridi-cu-_lous_." The blue bad boy threw his hands up in the air. "I can't _believe_ we're even arguing about this while a _madman_ is loose in the city!"

"If Burne is living within the city, she will find some way to contact her master." Bernard added from his seat.

Roxanne ran a hand through her short brown hair, "You know what? Fine. If any one of us is going to read it, it's going to be me. Sisterhood and what not."

Megamind stared at her owlishly before sighing in defeat, "Alright, fine, you get to read it if you want…" But already he was devising a plan to sneak a glance at its innards sometime in the very near future.

Before he could continue the bland man sitting at the computer continued, "If Burne is living within the city, we'll find out where she is and stop her before she contacts her master."

"Uh… wow… but…" the reporter shrugged, "What if she's this middle aged woman with like, six _kids_ or something?"

Another long, exasperated exhale and Bernard leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, "Miss Ritchi, there is a good chance that this… 'woman' could have fallen from grace and _procreated_ with our _kind_ or," and he gave her a meaningful look, "it's equally plausible that she's been alive and plotting her revenge the last fifteen years."

Minion quirked a boney eyebrow at that, "What do you mean by that Mister Nayer?"

Bernard apprised each of them separately. "Because those who were _born_ bad, _do_ bad."

* * *

Standing outside the museum, Metro Man made a fist, "Sounds like a good enough plan to me. I say we find Burne and we get her to tell us her scheme and how to defeat her master once and for all!" with that he punched his hands in confirmation of his thoughts.

Nodding Megamind agreed reluctantly. "It may be the only way to prevent another Cold War."

"_Or_, we could just take a picture her as proof that she is alive and not ruin her whole family!" Roxanne snapped. She looked a bit nervous and eyed the building; Megamind noticed that she kept the diary tucked safely in her jeans.

"I'm with Miss Ritchi on this." Minion sided shyly as he shifted the bag of books that Bernard had loaned them from hand to hand, "If she has kids, and we take her from them for things she did fifteen years ago, or worse things she hasn't even conspired to do… we'd be making them orphans like we were."

Megamind folded his arms, "Well then what do you think we should do then?"

"Ask Warden for -"

The villain looked away at that. "I'm not asking him for anything!"

Wayne and Roxanne exchanged curious glances at his refusal to listen to Minion's request.

* * *

"Where are you my Freisa?" Nitros asked himself as he made his casual, graceful way within Metro's Water Works. He felt cold, empty; without her, how could his ultimate plan come to fruition? Years of planning… _training_… lost. How does a master go on without his star pupil when his time in this earthly realm is already so short – he was already in his 60s.

He had made his decision at Metro Tower... If he dies in the process of conquering the globe then he might as well take as many people with him!

"I believe it's time to show these humans and _aliens_ of just what they robbed me of." He told himself.

His path ended next to a vat of water that fed into the hydroelectric conductor which in turn fed into the city's water and power supply.

"Feel my pain." He murmured as he weakly knelt onto his knee and leaned down. Holding onto the railing, he reached down with his and with his index finger he touched the surface of the moving water.

Instantly, crackling, it froze over, and the whirring sound of the machines stopped with a creaking groan.

Standing back up, he surveyed his work, as all water within the plant froze solid.

In his former life, he was a professor, a pioneer in his time in forward advanced thinking that could even rival that of the great Megamind... He smiled to himself at the thought of their inevitable meeting.

* * *

"I'm just _saying_ we should _think_ about this before we take any _drastic_ actions!" Roxanne argued wearily.

Metro Man had his palms out as he tried to explain, "But Roxie, every minute we're wasting time is another for Nitros to destroy the—do you hear that?"

The three quieted down as they watched the hero look around curiously. "That weird… howling, groaning noise?" He looked down at the asphalt at his feet.

Then they heard it. The sound of water pipes straining.

And then, all at once all throughout the city, the water mains exploded! Fire hydrants popped off as ice crystals shot hundreds of feet towards the sky, manhole covers flew up in the air as the city's sewer followed suit.

Screams of surprise from the city dwellers as they ran from their office buildings; giant ice flowers blossoming out of glass windows.

The four stared around speechless as snow began to fall once more.

Roxanne turned and looked at her companions with a scared look, "Guys, we need to fix this – _now._"

* * *

That night found the four locked away in Roxanne's apartment, surrounded by books, old newspapers, and several computers - all in an effort to locate the woman known only as Freisa Burne.

Minion scoured the internet all the websites devoted to the mystery of the missing woman, Metro Man read the books he borrowed from the museum based on the two as Roxanne laid on the floor with the diary opened in front of her (courtesy of Megamind's lock picking abilities. But before he could even steal a glance within its' bindings, it was snatched away by the woman who happily plopped herself at her coffee table leaving him bewildered and speechless). After a while, Megamind had noticed how deeply engrossed she became in the little journal and had taking to chewing on her thumb nail in thought.

The dining room table had been completely shanghaied by the evil genius. Brain bots hovered around him, providing him adequate lighting and tools when needed and the occasional dab at his blue brow; the whole table was strewn with sketches, diagrams, notes, random lyrics and other doodles.

In a neat row in front of him sat three identical looking watches, the one on the far right was gold while the first two were black – the one he was currently working on was red.

The evening had been majorly spent in silence with each member taking their positions at various places within the apartment. Minion read blog after blog and randomly scribbled down notes here and there, and at some point Wayne had sprawled on the couch, fast asleep.

Sighing and feeling stiff, Roxanne sat up and rubbed her stiff, Roxanne sat up and rubbed her shoulders. Hearing the snore behind her, she turned and smirked at the sprawled Wayne who had a _Fantastic Villians And Where To Find Them_ lying open on his face. Deciding now was a good time for a break; the woman stood up with the little green diary and walked over to the fish, "How's it coming?"

"It's going." He mumbled as he scrolled through pages and pages of the heinous duo's history.**  
**

Nodding she patting the fish on a furry shoulder pad and padded towards the dining room and stood silently behind the super genius.

Looking over his shoulder as she watched him painstakingly tinkered with the red watch. "Hey."

He jumped and pressed a button by mistake which shot a small torrent of flame out of the watch.

Roxanne gasped and leapt backwards in shock, "The hell?!" The Brainbots eyed the spurt curiously, one readying a canister of extinguisher.

"Sorry!" he squeaked sheepishly as he placed the watch on the table and covered it with his hands. "Didn't mean for it to do that…"

She took a calming breath and rubbed the back of her neck, "No, it's- it's my fault, I shouldn't have snuck up on you…"

Registering the look of awkwardness on her face he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Is there something you need?"

She looked as if she were trying to decide on something but after a moment, sighed and pulled out a chair to sit next to him; she laid the diary closed in front of her and laced her fingers over it. "I wanted to apologize."

He blinked. _Well, this is new… _"For what?"

"For, uh, being a little bitchy today." her expression looked a little sad and she turned her eyes towards the table guiltly. "I'm sorry for snapping at you guys and… yeah."

"Oh… ok?" He honestly had no idea how to take that.

Roxanne continued avoiding his gaze and absently began scratching at the worn and slightly charred threaded binding of the diary. "It wasn't fair and yeah. I was just stressing out. I have a habit of letting things get to me and I know that's no excuse and I'm sorry."

Then without looking, she awkwardly jabbed her right hand towards him and he flinched as if expecting her to slap him for some reason. "Can we be friends? At least until all of this is over?"

"Uh… sure…" He awkwardly took her hand in his and gave it a soft shake. "Friends?" The word rolled off his tongue easily. He often called Minion his best friend, his only true friend. Heck, even Wayne could be considered a 'type' of friend but somehow, the fact that Roxanne wanted to be friends seemed... somehow... _alien... _He wondered if she were putting him up to something and decided to file this event in the back of his mind for later viewing.

She looked up with a smile. "Yeah. I know that we are normally the standard kidnapper/kidnappee and all… but since you and Wayne called a truce… I don't see why we can't you know… call a truce as well, you know?"

His eyebrows went so far up his forehead, she expected them to pop off and scurry to a corner any second but said nothing. "Oh… Well… no, I mean, _yes! _Yes we could be um, _friends_. I would – like that very much actually." Meanwhile, his mind was racing. _Ok! She seems like she really does want to be friendly, um, ok. What do friends that aren't extraterrestrials do exactly? What do they talk about? _

The normally confidant and sarcastic women peered up at him shyly. "Yeah?"

Megamind felt his chest constrict slightly at her doe-eyed appearance and couldn't fight the rising blush to his cheeks, "Yeah."

The relief washed over her like a wave, and he smiled when Roxanne looked at the watches in his workspace, "New communicators?"

With a proud nod he affirmed, "Yes. Minion and my own have everything; disguise generators/communicators, you name it, and like ours both yours and Metro Man's get what I like to call 'The Snowball Sonar'!" He smirked to himself. "This red one is yours by the way."

Roxanne gently picked it up and held it aloft, "Flame thrower?"

He frowned, "In case Nitros ever tries to attack you! I mean –" he looked away nervous. "I-I can't have any other bad boy kidnap you right?"

Roxanne chuckled at that. "Possessive much?"

"Well," With a smile he shrugged nonchalantly, "I can't have anyone take _my_ _victim_ now can I?"

He grinned when Roxanne threw her head back in a surprised laugh. "Wow, why not drag me into a cave?"

Her smile almost faded when his expression turned flabbergasted, "Not at all Miss Ritchi…" Then he leaned in with a Chesire grin, "The Lair is far more comfortable."

The woman snorted and had to cover her lips to keep from disturbing the other two occupants; Minion muttered to himself about doing all the work while everyone else gets to goof off and Metro Man continued to snore, the book flying slightly with every puff of breath.

"I guess we have to keep it down…" she whispered, leaning in close, a giggle escaping every so often.

"I guess so…" he agreed. And then his brows drew together in surprise. _Wait a second… Am I…? Was I just doing that… that thing… Geez, what does Minion call it… Flirting! I was just flirting with her! But we're friends now and friends don't flirt, right? _Then his eyes widened and flicked over to her quickly, she was trying to fight a grin that she kept hiding behind her fingers. Then he casually stole a glance at her "Boyfriend" on the couch. _Ok, I'm in potentially dangerous territory here... but it can't hurt to have a little fun now can it?__  
_

"You'll have to try to keep my passionate screams to a minimum, ok?"

"I'd uh… have to get you to scream first." he stuttered a little giddily. _Holy cats! And she's flirting right back! Ok… ok… the next thing I have to say is something so _diabolically clever_ that she'll have to see the error of her ways and fall into the waiting arms of my evil!_

Then he gave her a look that spoke nothing but confidence, "You have very nice teeth."

And wished he could melt into the floor in embarrassment from the lameness of that.

She snorted again before smiling, "Thank you."

_Ok. That could have gone better._ He sighed. _  
_

With her close proximity he caught faint traces of her perfume – musky but with a hint of jasmine and his head began to swim with it. He inhaled it deeply and let out a tiny, almost inaudible purr but stiffened and wondered if she heard it.

Instead she asked about The Snowball Sonar and he instantly jumped on the explanation train, "It detects sudden temperature drops – particularly Nitros's cold signature." He pressed the button indicated and instantly the watch's face screen showed a 3D map of the city from the sky. "The image is all thanks to my death ray –"

"Death Ray?"

"With this we can keep an eye on the old man's whereabouts and hopefully detect anyone with a _similar_ cold read."

"Freisa Burne's."

He nodded, beyond pleased that her human mind could grasp his every word with firm attention. But then again Roxanne _was_ smarter than the average bear (so to speak).

She watched the radar for a moment longer before turning her attention back towards the genius. This time her smile faded into a frown. "I'm sorry about your scar."

"My what now?" Her eyes fell to his left arm he laid a hand over it with a chuckle. "Oh, uh, don't be! You didn't do it."

"Can I… see it?" she asked. He looked up and saw that she meant no harm, she even seemed concerned about it and he shrugged.

"It's nothing special." Wordlessly, he pulled off his left elbow left glove and rolled his skintight sleeve all the way up to his elbow. "I daresay it makes me more roguishly handsome than I currently am. At least six times badder."

Not listening to his self-compliment, Roxanne let out a sympathetic breath when her eyes landed on it. Megamind felt a strange twinge come over him at the sight of her eyes as she stared at the mark. In the center of his left forearm was a very clear image of a palm print. The blue had faded from it slightly and the skin puckered at the edges. "Frostbite." He surmised for her, all joking aside. Very tenderly, she touched the blue skin of his wrist and his heart jumped at the feeling of warmth emanating from her touch.

She gently rolled the arm over where they could clearly see the mark of fingers and the thumb. "How…?"

"I was seventeen – wore t-shirts and such." He explained casually. Then he tried to smile, "It was definitely a … learning experience. Gave me the inspiration to make temperature sensitive fabrics – which is why I wear my suits all the time now. If the surrounding air changes drastically, the suit is programed to stabilize my body temperature and protect me from, uh… this kind of thing."

But her face did not change at his reassurance but instead became more despondent. Clearing his throat he awkwardly patted her on the bicep, "Miss Ritchi? It's alright – I'm used to getting hurt – it's kind of my job, you know? Trust me this is the _least_ of what I've dealt with in the past."

"How did you… he…?" she shook her head and pulled away, letting go of his arm as though it were she that had just been burned, "Sorry. It's private, I shouldn't have asked."

Unknowingly desperate to keep her close he touched her arm to keep her from shrinking away, "No, no. It's ok… I don't mind at all." When she remained sitting, he took a breath and explained. "It was... I was… distracted…"

She waited for him to elaborate, and with a shrug he subconsciously began to fidget. "Metro Man and I were fighting as usual until he… fell from the sky."

"Fell?"

Megamind nodded. And glanced at the sleeping hero, "Minion and I just looked at each other and then, with a gust of wind came Nitros walking out of nowhere. He was heading towards Wayne and looked as if he were about to end him right there!"

"What did you do?" her voice was quiet, pensive.

"I did the only thing I could think of… I defended him." His expression turned sour at the thought. "Blegh."

Her brows flew upward at that. And he continued quickly, "Well, I couldn't just let him kill _my_ enemy! I mean, Metro Man is _my_ hero and-and he had no right to attack _my_ city and… well, I told him so…" Megamind became quiet then, his brow furrowed thoughtfully.

"Wow, you really are possessive. And then?"

"He said to me, 'What are these wretches to you _boy_?' I said that they were mine… Then he walked closer to me, and I stood my ground… He tried to bully me into rolling over and surrendering... He even tried reminding me how I would have a place with him in power, but that's not my thing. Why share in control?"

He smirked remembering the glory of his defiance. Misinterpreting his facial cues, she ventured in a hopeful tone, "Did you land a punch on him? _Make_ him listen?"

He laughed lightly and shook his head, "Not even close!"

She tilted her head and fiddled with the strap on the watch, "How bad?" she asked softly. With a nonchalant shrug he downed played the grisly bits and picked up the gold watch he was making for Metro Man.

"Well," he sighed picking at the wires inside, testing the relays, "He obviously was not thrilled that one of the newest and lets face it, his intellectual equal of a recruit was telling the boss man to piss up a tree." Reaching over for the soldering gun, He continued, "So he instead turned his attention towards Minion, and you know I will not tolerate that."

Across the room, Minion listened as he too began to remember that particular event with vivid clarity. Megamind put his tool down and began to seal up the back of the watch, "I did what I could as a shield for Minion, he was just getting used to the Gorilla version of his mobile suit after all."

"So how did you manage?"

With a final snap of the case Megamind quirked an eyebrow and gave his most cunning grin, "Why Miss Ritchi, I did happen to grow up in the best group of convicted robbers and pick pockets in all of Metrocity-"

From behind them, across the apartment came a snort, "He ran in circles, squealing like a girl telling me to hurry up and drag Metro Dude to safety," Minion interjected. He threw his arms in the air and started wailing, "_'AAAAGGGGHHHH MY GAHD MINION HURRY UUUUPPPPP!'_"

Miffed that he had been outed he threw a rolled up ball of paper at his best friend's ginormous suit, "Minion! And I call you my _best_ friend!"

"Ah!" the fish ducked before the missile collided with him. "But it was so _funny_!"

Settling back down he huffed, "I just wasn't fast enough and got hit by a renegade snowball. It was enough to knock me off balance and fall. Then he… he grabbed my arm and well… burned me. He wrenched it back up and… it felt like he was going to break it." He absently rubbed the scar, remembering the ice biting into skin, "That guy may be old but he is _strong_! The pain was excruciating… I uh… I _kinda_ passed out." This last part was ended in an embarrassed mumble.

"And?" Roxanne urged gently noticing him rub the area tenderly. "What happened then? He can't have just left right after all of that."

Megamind gave a sigh, "In my semi-conscious _haze_, I remember hearing him and the girl, Freisa, arguing about me, about the city. And then they left."

"Well what did they say?" she pressed.

Getting a little defensive at her constant pushing he crossed his arms, "I was kind of passed out and severely injured, pardon me for not getting all the details. They left, just like that, okay?"

"Just like that?" She sounded irritated at the sudden ending to this tale of woe. "You-you remember nothing else?"

"Just. like. that." He echoed before looking at her sharply, "What's with the inquisition? I don't remember anything else ok?"

He instantly regretted his tone when she sat back and looked mildly offended, "Excuse me if I want to write the greatest story in history of Metro on you guys."

Megamind flinched not with the words but with the sound of hurt in her tone. "No, no I'm sorry... I didn't - I didn't mean it..."

Roxanne watched him for several beats, her eyes flicking minutely across his face, as if she were searching for something else. Then with a barely audible huff she said, "I'm glad you stood your ground to him. He sounds like a real bully."

He shrugged, "I've had my fair share of bullies over the years."

They settled in silence once again, lost in their own thoughts. Megamind, staying true to his evil roots, didn't share one small detail with her. It wasn't really relevant to the current situation, but it was something that popped into his mind now and again, _especially_ now.

He remembered everything, he had seen Freisa kneel at his side and placed her gloved hand on his injured arm. "I'm so sorry." She had said quietly and he could see the sad look behind her glasses. "Nigel's giving you a reprieve until you're in better shape to fight..." And then in a flurry of snowflakes she vanished. She just looked so sad… _"Watch your back, Megamind."_

Sometimes he would lie awake at night thinking of that one single moment... and of the last time her saw her on the rooftop, where she had agreed to at least one date with him... If he could have said something... done something, anything to make her stay... He wondered if things might have been different if he had tried harder to begin with.

The alien sighed lightly; If only there was a way to really find out what she felt or at least thought of him. He was pulled out of his musings by the sound of her fingers drumming on the journal that his interest sparked, _Yes, how could I forget about that? _"So, Burnes' diary, huh?"

Her fingers stopped and she casted a glance towards it. "Yes."

"Can I... read it?"

"Mmm..." With a smile, the woman pulled it protectively to her chest, "No."

"Why not?"

"Because it belonged to a young girl, that's why."

"But it might have some... really important information in it! About... Nitros, yeah." _And me! Mostly me. Forget about Nitros._

Then she slid it farther away from him, "You know, my reporter senses are telling me that there is more to it than you're letting on..."

With a blush, Megamind quickly refocused his attention to the watch, "Well your report-o-meter must be on the fritz because my only goal is to kick the villian out of my city!"

Roxanne's eyebrows shot upwards and she hummed excitedly, "Well, well, well, it almost sounds like you're a little… heroic."

Megamind stiffened and cleared his throat obstinately, "No I just don't want some other bad guy plotting around on my turf!"

She pulled back a little bit with his tone of voice, "So once all this is over—"

"It's back to the grindstone."

Roxanne sat there and watched him again. In an effort to maintain the point she tried to push harder, "If you defeat Nitros then you'd be a hero…"

"No, I wouldn't Roxanne." Megamind dropped his eyes and looked back at the watch in his hands, "It's like Ber-nard said today, 'those who are born bad, do bad.' I've been bad my whole life, why stop now when I have a good thing going, you know?"

"I don't believe that. No one is born bad – everyone deserves second chances, _you_ most of all."

He looked up at her in confusion, "And what makes you say that?"

"You'll do whatever it takes to put a stop to his evil, his reign of tyranny…" She stated firmly. "Even putting a _permanent_ stop to Nitros."

There was a promise in her eyes that made Megamind wary. "I… can't just… _end_ him… that's just… that's not for me…"

She placed a hand on his injured arm and looked in his eyes pleadingly, "You'll _have_ to do what you _can't_ do… You're the _only_ one who can stop him, Megamind."

The villain glanced behind them at the sleeping Metro Man once again, "But... no, no that's what Metro Man's for - heroing and saving the day and..." Megamind began to fidget nervously, "And I'm just helping out..."

Another long moment passed between their eyes and before he could say anything more Roxanne finally stood up with a yawn, "That's it. Bed time. Good night boys, sleep well, if you kill do kill each other before I wake up, don't leave a mess. Minion, French toast in the morning?"

"Yes ma'am!" the fish replied cheerily from the computer desk. While her back was turned Megamind raised a helpless hand to try stopping her but said nothing and dropped it when she made a point of not looking at him.

She yawned once again and threw a careless wave to the linen closet, "Pillows, blankets whateve'. G'night."

He watched in silence as Roxanne walked up the stairs and closed the door to her bedroom. With a sigh, he decided that he had done enough for one night and went to the closet to grab the blankets and pillows.

Minion settled into a corner and plugged his travel charger into the wall. He watched as Sir carelessly tossed a jumbled blanket on the slumbering hero and threw the rest into a plush lounge chair. Then tilted his head curiously when he watched his master walk into the kitchen and come back with a glass of water.

"Thirsty Sir?" Minion inquired.

"No, not really." Megamind shrugged.

"The glass is for….?"

Megamind tip-toed up to the sleeping hero and slipped his hand into the cup. Once his task was done, he curled up into his chair and set up his pillows and blankets. Feeling Minion fret in his castle Megamind lightly chided him, "For science Minon… for science."

"Real mature." He friend admonished with a small shake of his head, "If he knocks you off the building don't come crying to me about it."

Green eyes rolling till they rose up the stairs to rest longingly on the red door just out of sight but for one corner, "Minion?"

"Yes?" The fish's little purple castle rose up on his tank, but he casted a sleeply glance at his boss.

Megamind flopped pulling the blanket up to his chin, "Do you think… doing this is right?"

From his castle, the fish blew a bubble in thought, "What?...trying to prank Wayne?"

"No, I mean, about… well… do you think we were born bad?"

The fish blinked and yawned again, "I don't know… Do you?"

"I sometimes wonder…"

Megamind stared at him with eyes that held a quiet fear and Minion's suit made a shrug. "Don't worry about it sir. Get some sleep."

Finally, Minion powered down for the night so now it was only Megamind awake and staring at the second floor balcony that led to the woman's room._ Sometimes I really wish I could be good._

Closing his eyes, his dreams were filled with snow ball fights, flowers of jasmine and a the sad eyes of a girl.

* * *

**Whew...**

**Hey sorry it took so long to update - thing's've been crazy on my end and I got stuck on trying to edit this. like I said, everything had been written for Ele's contest but I'm just in the works of editing and stuff. **

***rubs eyes in exhaustion* So, I hope you like this, ehe.**

**And for anyone read Better Half, I AM still working on it, just... stuck on the next chapter that needs to be post. I know, I know, it's been, what? a year now since the last update? Well, I havn't given up on it so... hopefully that's enough to keep ya'll calm. heh.**

**So, um, yeah, Don't be afraid to review, guys! Heh... **


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